A Life Of Silence
by bakabelle
Summary: Destiel High School!AU, other pairings. Crack, fluff, angst. Lots of angels! As a hunter and an angel go to school their not-so ordinary lives collide. Can they remain friends when they've been taught to hate each other, or will discovering the truth about each other tear them apart?Chap!12:'"Dean hates me. For lying. For what I am. He said he'd kill me if he ever saw me again."'
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Really wanted to do a high school!au. I hope people like it, please let me know what you think it would really help me out so please review.**

"Sammy, if you don't get your ass down here in two seconds I'm gonna' leave without you!" Dean shouted up the stairs.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." His brother appeared at the top of the stairs wearing a grin. Dean sighed and rolled his eyes. Sam rushed down the stairs, losing his footing and falling down the last few, only just catching himself on the banister as he nearly greeted the floor with his face.

"Oh my god, how in the hell are you still alive?" Dean said with an exasperated smile as he tugged sam out of the front door to the car.

"Probably because you don't stop breathing down my neck for two seconds." Sam replied with a smirk.

"Ha, ha. Meet Sammy, the king of comedy, get your ass in the car." They two brothers got into Dean's Chevy Impala, more commonly known as 'Baby'. It was the only thing Dean's Dad had ever properly provided for them and Dean loved it so much it was only second to Sammy.

After moving from place to place endlessly for years Dean had put his foot down and said he wanted Sammy to grow up normally to get a good education. They'd fought about it tirelessly but eventually John gave in. They bought a place not far from the Harvelle's and John was near-permanently away on hunts. John was a bitter man, twisted in his outlook towards life after his wife was slaughtered by an angel when Dean was only four years old.

Angels were the most deadly of the supernatural forces that the Winchesters spent their time hunting. After being cast down from heaven long before Dean was born many turned their wrath onto humans. In John's opinion and most other hunter's opinion all angels were the same, tarnished with the same brush, they were all the same murderous, emotionless, wrathful monsters. Dean was allowed on hunts with his Father, but never angel hunts, not ever. And Sam barely knew anyhting about them.

Angels had power but were restricted to Earth and had to blend in with humans like many other supernatural creatures to the point where it was often hard to spot them in everyday life, but John had vowed he'd find the one that killed Mary and kill it, and, until then, would kill as many others as he could.

It was the start of a new term at Sam and Dean's high school and Dean had gotten Sam all of his supplies, books, stationery, bags, etc. He had a job down at a library that was just off of the local grid. It was far enough that nobody he knew would see him there and ridicule him, but not too far to get to. It was in the rich part of town and his boss, Missouri, paid him generously so he didn't have to hustle money, not that Ellen would ever let him. Ellen Harvellea dn her husband Bobby were constantly offering him anything he needed and were like second parents to him and Sam. Their daughter Jo was like a sister to them both, even if she had, had a little thing for Dean since they could ever remember.

Both boys were pretty popular and in the same crowd of friends at school. Sam had the smarts, they both knew that, but whatever Sam couldn't do, Dean could. They were pretty much pieces of a puzzle and they complimented each other nicely. Their group of friends included; themselves, Jo, Chuck - a smart guy who loved to write but wasn't too good with the ladies, Garth - a good laugh but lacked common sense, Becky - a crazy internet lover who had a thing for Chuck, Adam - a down to Earth guy who was nearly as blunt as Dean, Ash - a crazy, live-free type who was always drinking something, Balthazar - a cheeky kind of guy with a thing for Bella and loved his public image, and Bella - a flirt with a reputation for trouble that had always invited Dean, much to Jo's displeasure, but they knew from experience that they didn't work together and kept it to mere harmless flirting.

XXXXXXX

"Have you got everything?"

"Any one causes any trouble you bring them to me, understand?"

"You're gonna' do just fine."

"Don't forget your sweets."

"Remember, the teachers are all perverts."

A babble of voices disorientated Castiel.

"Raphael, he has everything he needs. Uriel, that's not advice you should be giving. Anna's right you will be fine. Gabriel, please stop encouraging him to be constantly consuming E numbers. Lucifer's joking, the teachers are all there to help you, they'll be nice. Now, how're you feeling." Michael said with a soft smile to his youngest brother. Castiel gulped.

"Um..."

"Are you sure you want to go? You know we can always home school you." Anna said, eyes pleading to her younger brother whom she'd always been protective of. Being the youngest, Castiel had always been treated like a child, depsite the fact that he was now sixteen. He wanted to prove he could function just fine on his own.

"I'll be fine. I can do it." He said with a small smile and Anna softened, nodding.

"Of course you can." Michael said with his signature smile, reassuring Castiel in a way only he could. Michael shooed away all his other siblings save Gabriel, who was also still in high school but was in a higher year. They'd just moved here after an incident at their last town and were all eager for a fresh start. The house was large, they were in a nice area and the neighbours had all been friendly and obliging, but Castiel was still nervous.

Michael looked down at him, his face turned serious now and Casitel knew he wanted to talk to him about something important.

"Just remember Castiel, whatever happens, remain calm. Do not allow anyone to provoke you or coax you into losing your focus. No one can know what we are. You have very good control over your powers ordinarily so I'm not worried, I just want you to remember how important it is not to let your guard down. Other than that there's nothing I'm at all concerned about, I'm sure you'll make friends quickly and have a lovely time." Michael smiled again now and Castiel nodded sincerely.

"Relax, little brother. There's no danger here." His smile seemed to ease the knot in Castiel's stomach. He gave his older brother and make-shift Father a huge hug. When they parted Michael turned to Gabriel.

"You look out for your brother, Gabriel." Michael said calmly. Gabriel snapped to attention and saluted.

"Yes sir. Come on, Cassie, you'll be fine, don't get your wings in a twist."

"Gabriel." Michael said sternly.

"Right, right, sorry. Don't get your panties in a twist, let's get going." Castiel nodded, his mouth dry, his stomach feeling heavy and his heart beating just a little too loudly for his liking. Breathe Castiel, he told himself. He really hoped he could make some friends.

As they got onto the public bus, (the school bus didn't go to their part of town), Gabriel looked at his apprehensive younger brother.

"Hey, don't worry, I'm not gonna' ditch, bro. You can stick with me until we get you some buddies." His tone was painted with sarcasm but he heard the sincerity behind the comment and appreciated it.

XXXXXXX

"Right, that's your locker number, class room number and money for the canteen. You've got everything now. I've gotta' get to my class but I'll see you at lunch, okay? Go put your extra stuff in your locker now and then get to your class." Gabriel said lightly. Castiel just nodded.

"Dude, you're silent today, lighten up, it'll be fine." He gave his brother a brief squeeze on the shoulder and then walked off to get to his class.

Castiel took a deep breath and turned, facing the long empty corridor. As he walked in the direction of his locker he kept his head down and followed the map in his hadn diligantly. As he reached his locker he collided with someone and they both went tumbling to the ground. The first thing he did was panic that he'd get beaten up on his first day but relaxed slightly when he heard laughter. He looked up and saw a handsome boy picking up his books. He had dirty blonde hair and remarkably green eyes. Castiel followed suit and grabbed his things.

"I'm sorry, I didn't see you." He said apologetically. The boy looked up at him at last when they'd both gotten to their feet and stared for a second before seeming to shake himself and smiled brilliantly.

"S'okay dude, it was my bad, I'm totally late." He laughed. They both turned to their lockers and found them next to each other. The other boy was far quicker than Castiel as he was well accustomed to using it whereas Castiel was fumbling.

"Okay, well I gotta' run. Name's Dean, by the way." Castiel looked up at him and his lips twitched.

"Hi Dean." He hadn't realised that Dean wanted to know his name and his simple reply made Dean chuckle.

"Later." And Dean ran off to find his class. Castiel stared after him. Maybe school wouldn't be so bad after all.

**A/N: Let me know what you think and if you want me to write more, please review. Any ideas at all would be amazing because I haven't decided on a direction to take this, I'll only continue if people enjoy it so please let me know. Hope you enjoyed. Thanks for reading! Izzie.**


	2. Chapter 2 - A Day Of Firsts

**A/N: Thankyou to the lovely response for the last chapter, I wanted to get the second one out relatively quickly. I hope you guys like it, please let me know and review what you think/what you'd like to see in future chapters it helps me out so much! Thanks.**

Dean swaggered into the classroom as the eagle eyes of his teacher, Mr Masters, scorched his back.

"Mister Winchester, you're late." He said in a tone that would have nearly any other student fearing for their life, but Dean had never experienced his teacher speaking to him in any other way.

"Fashionably." He said with a wink at Chuck who smirked and slapping Ash's hand on the way past.

"Well I'm glad you find yourself amusing." Mr Masters snapped and Dean turned to him.

"I think I'm adorable." He said with a winning smile.

"Get to the back Mister Winchester, you've wasted enough time."

Dean made his way to his usual place at teh back of the room and made an effort to ignore Ash's inappropriate gestures. He'd been moved to the back of the classroom since about the first day of term to a desk on his own. He looked to the board and saw 'Trigonometry' upon which he immediately switched off. He slowly got out his secret hobby. Only Sam knew about this. He'd mocked him mercilessly until he'd seen how talented Dean was and had promised to stop teasing him as long as Dean would carry on. However he'd been sworn to complete and absolute secrecy and could tell no one, especially Dad.

He opened the book filled with staves and his scrawled sheet music. He could hear the notes in his head and he continued the hurried song he was creating for merely a form of occupation, it wouldn't amount to anything.

"So I want you to make him very welcome." Mister Masters instructed before continuing with some equation or another. Dean looked up, confused. The boy from earlier was walking up to him, the one next to him was the only spare seat. He shot him a brilliant smile and could've sworn he saw the boy gulp. Maybe he didn't want to sit with Dean, maybe he could see that Dean was clearly a trouble maker. He sat down and got out his books, starting his work. Dean hid his book from view, sitting quietly, not sure whether to start a conversation or not. He observed the boy and saw he was quite attractive, not that he was attracted or anything. He just noticed. He had jet black spiky bed hair with that 'oh, you just caught me after a walk in the wind' look to it that no doubt the chicks would love. He was kind of pale, but not overly so. He was tall-ish, just a bit smaller than Dean and lean. But what grabbed Dean's attention were the boy's eyes. They were the brightest blue of any eyes he'd ever seen. They were, for some reason, enchanting. Dean shook himself, looking away. Get a grip Dean, he told himself.

"Hello Dean." The boy said uncertainly with a small smile on his lips. That was all the invitation Dean needed to flash him one of his special reserve smiles that made any girl swoon. The boy immediately cast his eyes back down onto his book.

"Hey, I didn't know you were in my year. You new?"

"Er, yes, I just moved here with my brothers and sisters."

"Oh yeah, cool. Where's your parents?" Dean asked conversationally and regretted asking as soon as he saw the look on the boy's face. Touchy subject, nice one Dean.

"Uh, they, er... away. Business trip." The only mistake he made was the smile on the end, Dean knew it was a lie but certainly wasn't going to push the guy.

"Ditto, my Dad anyway, constantly."

"At least you have your Mom though." The boy said in a happy-for-you type way. Dean only hm-ed. After a few more moments the boy spoke again.

"So, why are you sitting all by yourself."

"Were."

"Why were you sitting all by yourself?" He said with a genuine smile, his eyes crinkling slightly in a way that for some reason made Dean's throaten tighten. He ignored it.

"Doesn't anyone like you?" He asked simply, clearly not meaning to be unkind but not realising the blunt nature of his words, Dean laughed quietly.

"It's actually sort of the opposite." Dean said with a wink. The black haired boy tilted his head and furrowed his brow in an expression of innocent confusion that would make any mother melt in a pool of her own tears of adoration. This kid looked like butter wouldn't melt, and he didn't even know it. Dean drew in a jagged breath.

"I don't understand."

"I'm sitting all by myself because everyone likes me." Dean said awaiting the expression of disdain at his mock-arrogance. To his surprise the boy leaned in closer to him.

"Everyone except the teacher, it would seem." He said with a smirk and Dean grinned, this kid was earning more respect by the second.

"Mister Winchester, Mister Novak, I trust you both will know the answer." Both boys turned to the front, disorientated as they returned to the real, less-entrancing, world of reality.

"Um..." Was all Dean managed.

"i thought not. You'll both stay after school for detention. I will give you the benfit of the doubt, Mister Novak, that Mister Winchester was disturbing you, but in future do try and ignore him." Dean looked to the boy, expecting a nodding dog but instead a solemn look of defiance.

And that was how Dean Winchester and Castiel Novak first became friends.

Later in the canteen Dean brought Castiel along with him to sit with his friends, he decided to wait until tomorrow to introduce them to him because he barely knew the guy yet and they were all delved into conversation. Castiel sat awkwardly whilst Dean caught up with his friend. Thankfully he then saw Gabriel walk over with a few people who looked a year older than him and Dean, however they all appeared to be a part of Dean's group and immediately began chatting and eating.

"Hey, you okay? Got an A+ on a paper yet?" Gabriel said boredly, throwing back a handful of skittles.

"No actually I got a detention after school." Gabriel sprayed all his skittles in Castiels face and he swatted them away with a small smile when he saw Gabriel's grin.

"I'm so proud of you! That's my boy! Oh, look at you all grown up! Man, I'm tearing up here, this is a kodak moment." He ruffled Castiel's hair and Castiel whaacked his hand away.

"Could you just let Michael know I'll be a little late home." He said, his tone awkward and slightly guilty. Gabriel caught on instantly, delighted with the new turn Castiel was taking.

"Absolutely your secret is safe with me. So what did you get a detention for anyways, kiddo?"

"Talking in class." Castiel said, hanging his head slightly.

"Ah, an oldy but goody. How're you gonna' get home?"

"I'll er... I'll catch a late bus."

"Okay, sure thing." Gabriel said, not really listening anymore as he began texting. The next few hours passed quite uneventfully for Castiel. Then at last the time for his detention came. He filed back to his classroom and he was there before Dean had arrived but took his seat at the back nonetheless. When Dean arrived he gave Castiel an apologetic smile.

"Hey. Listen, man, sorry I got you in detention on your first day. Kind of a dick move on my part, I guess." He shifted awkwardly.

"Consider yourself forgiven. You owe me one." He said with a small smile and Dean laughed.

"Sure, whatever."

Mister Masters walked in and began shuffling papers, reports, and a mixture of other boring things that make up the daily cocktail of being a teacher. When he looked up at them he started, clearly having forgotten that they'd earned a detention earlier.

"Oh. You two. Now I have a meeting but you two are to stay here until 4:30 and I'll know if you leave early as the cleaners will tell me." And with an annoying head flick of authority he marched out of the classroom.

Dean turned to him and sighed.

"Well this is a barrel of laughs." Castiel nodded in agreement.

"So was that dude in the canteen earlier your...?" He trailed off, uncertain and for some reason nervous.

"He's my brother." He stated simply and Dean exhaled deeply, his smile returning.

"Right, cool. I have a brother, he goes here to. He's called Sam, he's in the year below."

"Oh. I actually have six siblings."

"Six! Woah dude, things must get crazy at your house." Dean said with a laugh. This was the first time anyone had responded to knowing how many brothers and sister he had positively. Most people called it weird, or made some incest themed comment. He gave Dean his biggest smile, usually reserved for conning Anna into making his faourite meal when he was said. Dean's head seemed to spin. This guy smiled at him like he'd just cured world hunger or something.

"Okay, shall we get out of here?" Dean said and then cursed the way it sounded, luckily the boy in front of him didn't seem to notice.

"But we have to wait until four thirty.." He replied, trying to keep up. Dean grinned cheekily and grabbed Castiel's arm. He pulled to the window and proceeded to climb out of the window with Castiel watching wide eyed.

"This is utterly ridiculous. Are we really smuggling ourselves out of school? What if he comes back?" He said anxiously glancing over his shoulder, when he looked back he suppressed a breath. Dean was balancing on the ledge, leaning in the window and was directly in front of Castiel's face.

"Do you want to stay here for an hour or do you want to come with me?" He smiled knowingly and his eyes slipped to Castiels lips for the tiniest fraction of a second and Castiel's heart thrashed against his ribs as his mouth went dry. He felt a small portion ofelectricity pass like a current through his veins and panicked slightly, realising he'd almost let something his control over his powers slip whilst he'd been distracted. Get a grip Castiel, he told himself.

"Help me." He said in a small voice and offered Dean his hand. Dean shifted to make room for the boy and helped him cling onto the gutter which he slid down hilariously slowly. By the time Dean reached the ground he was in hysterics, earning a glare from the other boy.

"So, don't think I'm weird or anything, but do you wanna' come down to the Roadhouse with me, it's a bar and jo's parents own it." Castiel's heart swelled at the fact that this boy who he'd only known for a day liked him enough to invite him along after school. However then thoughts of Michael and home entered his mind and he chewed on his lip.

"Oh, I would like that a lot, only I really should get home, it was my first day, my siblings will probably-"

"Dude say no more, it's fine, just an idea..." Dean's stance had changed completely, he had a slightly too nonchalant smile painted onto his face and was shifting awkwardly where he stood, wishing he hadn't asked.

"Dean, I really would like that, are.. are you free tomorrow evening?" Dean's head snapped up and his regular happy smile returned, to Castiel's relief.

"Yeah, uh, you wanna' come over to mine tomorrow or something, give me a hand with whatever pile of crap homework we will've been set." He smiled nervously, for some reason really hoping he could spend more time with this guy who he felt strangely drawn to.

"I'd like that." Castiel said with a shy smile.

"Great, I mean, yeah, cool. Marks outta' ten as first days go?" He said with a smirk.

"Nine." He replied. Dean's eyebrows flew up.

"Nine! Dude, the food here _sucks_!" This earned him a loud laugh from Castiel, and Dean decided he liked that sound. The only reason it wasn't a ten was because he didn't get to go with Dean tonight, but he knew he really should get back to the house.

"Okay, bye Dean." He turned to go.

"Hey, wait a minute, man. You, uh, I don't actually know your name.." He chuckled and Castiel smiled, understanding.

"Castiel." Dean nodded, seemingly satisfied.

"Later then, Castiel." He tasted the name on his tongue and Castiel's heart tripped slightly as he heard it and he smiled and walked away.

When Castiel got home he saw Anna looking unhappy, Gabriel looking defeated sitting on the sofa and Michael standing in the living looking at him curiously as he walked in.

"I'm sorry, dude. She beat it outta' me." Gabriel said shooting a glare at Anna, which she promptly ignored.

"You got detention? On your first day?" Anna said and Castiel shifted his feet uncomfortably.

"This is unlike you, Castiel. Is everything alright?" Michael asked.

"Yes, sorry Michael, it was just a misunderstanding. It's all fine now though."

"Alright, it's okay, Castiel, I trust you." He said simply and Gabriel squawked.

"Why does he get the trust and I get the lecture?!" He whined indignantly and shut up when he received Michael's stern gaze.

"Because you have regular detentions. They aren't compulsory you know, Gabriel. Detention isn't a club." Gabriel hm-ed.

"So how was detention?" Michael asked Castiel, expecting some horrific tale and was shocked when Castiel grinned.

"It was wonderful."

**A/N: Please review, it helps so much! Hope you enjoyed. Thanks for reading! Izzie.**


	3. Chapter 3 - Nothing's That Simple

**A/N: A long chapter because I had a lot to fit in, I hope you guys like it. Thank you for the lovely response to my previous chapters, I hope you like this one. Let me know if you want Jess/Sam or Sam/Gabriel - I haven't made up my mind. Please review! Enjoy.**

The next morning Sam noticed his brother was unusually chipper and eager to get to school on time.

"Rise and shine, Sammy." Dean said as he bobbed along to a song he was playing far too loudly on the radio downstairs.

"Dude, Asia?" Sam queried as he took in Dean's smile and bouncy attitude.

"Aw, you love this song and you know it! Now, come on, we gotta' go in ten minutes." And with that he hopped up, taking a minute to sing along to the song playing before disappearing out of Sam's room. By this point Sam really was worried, Dean was never ready for school early. Maybe the school had said he was one late mark from expulsion or something.

He blearily got ready, eyeing his brother warily as he moved around the kitchen, getting Sam's lunch ready.

"Dean, what's going on?" He asked cautiously. Maybe he was high, Sam thought absent-mindedly.

"What, I'm not allowed to be in a good mood?" He asked with a smile and it was infectious. Sam loved it when Dean was happy, he so rarely got time to be just happy in himself what with constantly having to worry about Sam, the house, hunts, Dad...

"Yeah. No, that's great, Dean." He said with a questioning smile. Dean frisbeed Sam a slice of toast and lobbed a banana at him which Sam promptly caught one after the other.

"Nice catch." Dean said and Sam luaghed. It was little things like making Sam's breakfast but none for himself that Sam sometimes took for granted. His brother really did look out for him.

"Okay, let's get going. By the way, should be coming out after school to the Road House with me so I might be in late." He said a tad too casually and Sam zoned in.

"Who's Cas?" He asked noncomittantly.

"Just a friend, he's new in town, well, out of town apparently. Just joined yesterday." Sam's eyebrows shot up.

"And you're gonna' hang out with him after school?" Sam asked increduously, it took a lot to get Dean's attention and respect. To accept someone so quickly was unusual for Dean, they usually had to prove themselves or something.

"Yeah. What's up, Sammy? You jealous?" He said with a wink and Sam rolled his eyes.

"I've got debate club on after school and, uh..." Dean honed in on his brother's expression and immediately knew what was going through his mind.

"What d'you need, Sammy?" He asked calmly and Sam smiled awkwardly, knowing Dean could read him in a heart beat.

"I was wondering if I could have a friend over for dinner tonight."

"Sure, I can manage that. You need a lift too?" Dean said without blinking. It was stuff like this that Sam was glad Dean was so laid back and reasonable.

"Yeah, that'd be great." Dean smiled.

"Spaghetti okay for tonight?" He asked, packing Sam's lunch into his bag.

"Yeah, thanks."

"So who's your friend?" Dean asked, not really concentrating. Sam shifted uncomfortably and tried to speak as casually as he could.

"She's called Jess. She's the deputy chair of the debate club." Dean's head snapped up at this statement and a grin split over his face.

"So, its a girl?" He walked over to Sam and ruffled his hair. Sam smiled sheepishly.

"You like this girl, Sammy?" Dean asked seriously with a light smile on his face. Sam's smile grew at the thought of Jess.

"Yeah, Dean. I really do." Dean grinned and rolled up his sleeves.

"So I'd better make some damn good spaghetti then, huh?" He winked and threw Sam's bag to him.

"Go and get the girl, little brother." Sam flushed slightly, rolling his eyes and walking out of the door.

XXXXXXX

He opened his locker and smiled at the picture of his car stuck in the door. He grabbed his books and when he closed his locker he was shocked to see Castiel on his left, opening his own locker.

"Cas!" Dean jumped and Castiel laughed apologetically.

"Sorry, did I startle you?" He asked, embarrassed.

"Oh no, not at all, just let me restart my heart. You sure know how to sneak up on people, Cas." He joked and Castel flushed.

"Cas?" He queried and Dean blanched for a second before throwing on a coy smile and rubbing the back of his neck.

"Oh, er, yeah. Sorry, it was just a nickname. Kind of easier to say, if you don't like it I won't, I mean-"

"I like it." Castiel beamed and Dean joined him. Castiel liked that Dean felt it so natural to give him a nickname after only a day of knowing him. As he shut his locker he walked to class with Dean.

"So you still up for coming out tonight. Since as you're new in town I guess I'd better show you some of the best spots." Castiel smiled.

"I'd like that, I don't get much time to go out with my family."

Entering the classroom the entire class went quiet seeing Dean walk in on time for the first time since... since ever. Castiel blushed at all eyes being on him and Dean, but Dean grinned and took a bow. After a couple of hours of Castiel helping Dean with calculus, and Dean answering Cas' questions about Sam and his friends it was time for lunch. They all sat down, taking more notice of Castiel today and waited for Dean to introduce him. Castiel noted that it seemed Dean was the sort of leader in the group.

"Hey, guys, this is Cas. Cas, this is Chuck and Becky, Jo and Adam, Balthazar and Bella, Ash and Garth." Dean said, pointing them out as he went around. Castiel noticed how he coupled people together and noticed how they seemed closer than the others. Some looked like couples, others were clearly on the brink of being couples and others were less obvious but it seemed Dean had made his mind up about who was with who. It struck Castiel that only Dean was on his own with this system and wondered if Dean had noticed this.

There was a collective greeting from the group and several started asking questions about where he'd come from and if he liked it here. All in all Dean was relieved that Cas was being well received, probably more relieved than he should be but he chose to ingore that fact.

Bella chose this moment to make her famous, 'I'll go for anything that looks tasty' routine and Cas was a new toy, in her opinion. Of course after she'd had her way with him she'd probably never really look at him again.

"What's a handsome looking guy like yourself doing without a girl on your arm then, hm?" She said suggestively and Castiel stood frozen, extremely uncomfortable as she leaned all over him shamelessly. Balthazar looked away feeling his stomach turn and proceeded to get to his feet. Dean felt for the guy he really did. Liking Bella was the harshest fate he could imagine for any guy with her reputation. Moreover, Balthazar was the only guy whom Bella hadn't had her way with, no one knew why, she'd just missed him out. Balthazar had merely taken it as another blow to the ego.

"If you'll excuse me guys, I've got a thing." He said quietly and Dean shot him a sorry look which he replied to with a simple shake of his head and a sad smile and walking out of the hall. Bella missed this entire exchange but Castiel didn't.

"Does Balthazar like Bella?" He inquired out of pure curiosity and everyone looked at him, wide-eyed. He glanced around panicked, clearly having struck some kind of nerve. Bella scoffed and looked around now, awaiting Balthazar's denial and frowned when she couldn't spot him.

"Where is Balth?" She asked, to which everyone averted their eyes. For someone quite sharp it seemed Bella was oblivious to Balthazar a lot of the time. She narrowed her eyes and went to look for him, much to Castiel's relief.

"Woah, dude, call it as you see it." Ash said, putting down his smuggled beer to hold out his fist to Cas, who reluctantly bumped it earning a laugh from Dean.

"Was I not supposed to say anything?" He asked confused and the group all regarded Castiel differently. Jo laughed musically.

"Castiel, you're adorable." She said with a friendly smile. Castiel was unsure as to how he'd acheived this title with a mere question and tilted his head in question which made Dean's stomah flip for some reason he couldnt placed. Jo laughed more. Adam sat stoic and indifferent, watching Jo until he couldn't anymore and gave himself some relief, distracting himself with his mobile.

Dean was watching Adam, Adam was trying not to watch Jo, Jo was watching Dean and Castiel was watching them all, trying to keep up with the dizzying complexity of the group. He'd never really had any friends before, he'd always been too weird to fit in. The stark contrast between being alone all the time and now being surrounded by a diverse group of people was disorientating. He still remembered to keep a firm handle on his powers, letting nothing slip.

This was all very new to Castiel, he hadn't expected to have such trouble keeping a lid on his powers. Every time he was distrated, or startled, or excited, or happy, or scared, it all took away from his self control and it frightened him. He wondered how his siblings were so good at it.

After the afternoon had slipped away in a blur of literature studies and and history it was finally time to go home and Castiel felt the butterflies in his stomach as he wondered where he and Dean would go.

The crisp fall air chased Castiel's hair and tousled it as the sun began to set earlier, losing hold of summer's long evening glow ad edging towards winter's companionship with darkness. As Dean walked out from the school's left wing he caught sight of Castiel waiting by the entrance to the main lobby and it seemed to wind him momentarily. Cas' hair was blowing wildly in the wind and his lean body was wrapping around itself as his hands tangled themselves in his scarf, desperately trying to preserve heat. He felt a knot tie in his stomach and was suddenly anxious and excited to show Castiel around.

"Hey, Cas." He called as he walked over. Castiel shot him a smile and Dean willed himself not to trip on his own feet as he felt unstable all of a sudden.

"Hello, Dean." He said happily as Dean approached him, looking all too inviting in his leather jacket and jeans in the light of the retreating sun.

"So, shall we get going? I'm in your hands." Castiel said with a smile as he turned and walked towards the car Dean had motioned to. Dean liked that thought far too much and gripped the edge of his Baby to keep himself steady.

"Hey, Baby. D'ya miss me?" He said with a smile, stroking a hand down the side of his beloved Impala. As they both sat in the car Dean noticeably relaxed.

"You're car is very impressive." Castiel said, absently admiring it and when he looked back he saw Dean smiling at him in a way that made him thankful he was sitting down through fear that his knees might've buckled.

"You wanna' pick a tape? They're all down by your feet."

"A tape?" Castiel smiled, quirking an eyebrow at the old fashioned nature of it and Dean gave him a gentle shove.

"Shut up and pick a tape." Dean said with a grin and started the car and exited the school car park driving down the highway. Castiel blew the dust off of an old AC/DC tape and regretted it when dust was sprayed everywhere, mainly directly into his eye and he cried out in pain.

"Crap, sorry, they kinda' live with dust. You okay, man?" Dean asked.

"Yes, I think I have something trapped in my eye. Oh my gosh, I genuinely can't see out of one eye." He said with a pained chuckle and Dean sighed, pulling over into a little path on the side of the road.

"What're you doing?" Castiel asked, noticing him stop the car.

"Come here, genius." Castiel's heart stopped for all of two seconds before he realised what Dean was actually referring to. Dean pulled Castiel's face close to his and looked into his eye, trying to see the offending piece of dust stuck there.

With his eye watering like a fountain, Dean holding his face close to him, staring into Dean's emerald eyes, feeling Dean's breath, smelling his aftershave, it was intoxicating. All he wanted was to inch further and close the distance. Dean's heart was racing for some reason and the lump in his throat wouldn't disappear as he stared into those ocean blue eyes and they stared right back, seemingly into his soul. He breathed out shakily as he gently captured the speck in Cas' eye. He then smoothed his thumb over Cas' face, swiping away the tears that had spilled over.

"You're okay now, Cas." Dean said softly and it was at that moment that Castiel completely lost himself in Dean and CRASH! Thunder slammed in the sky and it began to rain wildly. Castiel snapped back, shocked that he'd allowed himself to lose control of his powers and that they'd had such a dramatic effect. Dean sat bolt upright as thunder slammed in the sky, coming to his senses.

"Woah, what the hell..?" He said more to himself as he observed the sudden change in the weather. Castiel tried to slow his heart beat as he regained control and tried to ignore the fact that he could still feel Dean's hand on the side of his face, his thumb on against his cheek.

"Oh, crap!" Dean slammed a hand to his head.

"Dean?" Castiel asked, concerned. Dean turned to him, an apologetic look on his face.

"Crap, Im sorry, Cas. I just remembered my brother has a kind of date tonight, the kid's totally psyched and I promised I'd take him and his girl home and cook dinner for them. Would it be totally douchey of me if I cancelled on showing you around and we stayed in, or do you wanna' go home?" Castiel couldn't help the smile that tugged at his lips. Not only was Dean proving himself to be one of the nicest guys Castiel had ever met, he was now inviting Castiel round to his house. Considering he'd only known him two days, he felt happier around Dean than he had with anyone in a long time.

"That'd be fine. Besides, we have an assignment to work on and I'd like to meet your brother." Castiel said happily and Dean breathed out in relief.

"Thanks, Cas."

"Will your Mom be home?" He asked conversationally and saw the colour drain from Dean's face.

"She... No." He didn't know why he didn't tell Cas the truth. Partly because it meant he'd have to make something up about how she died and he didn't want to lie to Cas, and partly because he just couldn't bring himself to. He didn't want the judgemental eyes, the doubts towards his father, the sympathy. No, the pity. He couldn't bare the thought of Cas looking at him differently, like he was a poor little orphan who needed donations or something. No, he kept schtum. Castiel didn't push the issue.

They picked up Sam and Jess, who was pretty and polite, and drove home, Sam too busy with Jess to spy on his brother and his mysterious new friend. When they arrived home both Sam and Dean were slightly apprehensive of first impressions, but both Jess and Cas were extremely polite and complimented their home. Dean let Sam and Jess have the living room and watch some television and do whatever whilst Dean and Cas stayed in the kitchen. Castiel watched Dean with fascination as he began to make dinner.

He moved lithly and grabbed ingredients as he found them, adding them to the mixture, not following a recipe. He appeared to light up as he made dinner, enjoying the task, which was unusual for a boy his age. He caught Castiel staring at him.

"What?" He queried with a smile.

"You clearly care a lot for your brother. He seems nice." He added and Dean swelled with pride.

"Yeah, he's a good kid. I practically raised him but..." He trailed off, realising he may have said too much. He could see Castiel calculating all of his comments inside his head, realising they didn't add up, but prayed he would just let it lie.

As dinner simmered Castiel and Dean worked on their history assignment and finished up in time to set the table for Jess and Sam. Dean called them in.

"Hey, I'm gonna' drop Cas back. What're your plans?" Dean asked Sam.

"Uh, well we were gonna' eat and then catch a lift with Jess' Dad up to Jess' place and hang out there for a bit." Sam replied and Dean nodded, grabbing his jacket.

"Okay, cool. In by ten, it's a school night." Dean said, his voice tinted with a slight of authority and Sam nodded easily.

"It was great to meet you, Jess. Later, Sam. You kids have fun." Dean called as he walked out of the kitchen.

"It was nice to meet you both." Castiel said with a polite smile as he followed Dean.

They both went and climbed into Dean's car again. Castiel regarded Dean with a small smile, he was like a Father to Sam and their relationship intrigued him. He appreciated how such a bond could form as he felt the same way about Michael, who'd always been at the head of the family as a Father figure.

"They're adorable." Dean said happily as they began the drive to Cas' house, getting directions from him as they went.

"What do you think will happen?" Castiel asked with a smile, seeing that Dean probably knew his brother inside out.

"Well, Sam will be the perfect gentlemen and if Jess wants a kiss she'll have to get it herself because God knows Sam's too damn shy to on the first date." Castiel laughed lightly.

"Are you the same?" He asked curiously and Dean's face coloured slightly.

"Who, me? Nah, I'm way more smooth than that." And he took a second to give Cas a cheeky grin which made his blood race and the rain fall harder. Snap out of it, Castiel, he scolded himself.

When they arrived Castiel thanked Dean for letting him come over and Dean reciprocated the thanks and for some reason walked Cas to his door. When the door opened and Dean was ready to go back to his car to his surprise he was grabbed by his collar and yanked inside. Castiel was white as a sheet as one of his brothers man-handled Dean.

"Cassy's home!" The stranger cried.

"And he's brought a friend!" He added and Castiel glowered at his brother.

"Gabriel, let him go." He ordered and with a laugh Gabriel allowed Dean to extricate himself from Gabriel's arms.

"Hi, I'm Gabriel, your resident comedy genius and Cassy's brother. You are?" He asked.

"Dean Winchester. Hi." He said easily and Castiel breathed out, if Dean could take Gabriel in his stride like that, there may still be hope. However, then the rest of his siblings appeared.

"Castiel, you've brought a friend home." Anna said, delighted, giving him a squeeze and smiling eagerly at Dean who smiled politely in return.

Raphael and Uriel leaned over the banister at the top of their hardwood stairs in an intimidating fashion, saying nothing. Lucifer skipped slightly down the stairs.

"So, who do we have here, Cassie?" He said with an unnerving smile.

"Guys, you're all being impolite, the idea is to make a guest feel welcome, not crowd him. Go on, all of you." A tall, smiling character with a calm aura about him walked down the stairs and the crowd dispersed.

"Hi, sorry, it can be intimidating having us all peer in on you. I'm Michael, Castiel's brother." He held out a hand which Dean didn't hesitate to shake with vigour, much to Michael's approval. Castiel sighed in relief, applauding Dean's candor to be able to stand tall faced with Castiel's six over bearing siblings for the first time, all at once and not get overwhelmed.

"I'm Dean. A friend of Cas' from school. I was actually heading off, but it was a pleasure to meet you." Dean said calmly. Michael smiled warmly.

"Of course, well it was lovely to meet you. Any friend of Castiel's is welcome here. Feel free to drop by for dinner some time."

"Sure. Okay, later, Cas." He said with a smile which Castiel returned whole-heartedly.

"Bye, Dean." As soon as he was gone Castiel turned to face Michael, and saw a happy look on his face.

"I like him." Was all Michael said, and all he needed to say to show his approval and Castiel beamed and hugged him, feeling ecstatic after such a great evening. After he'd walked away it took 1.5 seconds for the rest of his siblings to charge down around him, asking question after question and Castiel laughed loudly as he ran to his room. He closed the door and slid down behind it, laughing again at the voices prying at his door. He didn't care that his family was bat shit crazy, because Dean didn't care. He didn't care that he'd probably be teased endlessly about Dean because he'd had the nicest evening he'd ever had just spending time with Dean. He'd even gotten close to a kiss. Well, in his own mind. He sighed gently, collapsing on his bed.

He was well and truly falling for Dean Winchester.

**A/N: Let me know what you thought/liked/didn't like in a review, it helps me so much and inspires me to write! Please let me know what you want to see in future chapters. I hope you enjoyed. Thanks for reading! Izzie.**


	4. Chapter 4 - A Stab To The Chest

**A/N: I'm so sorry it's been so long! I've had loads on but hopefully should be getting back to normal updating now. Throwing in some Doctor Who references and Monty Python references, yay. A bit of plot thickening and Destiel angst because I can. Thank you so much for the amazing response to the previous chapters, it's been lovely! Please review and let me know what you think! Enjoy. **

Two weeks passed and Castiel loved going to school and grew closer with Dean and the rest of his friend group. Sam and Jess had been an item for a while and Sam was infatuated and constantly in a state of bliss. Everything was great.

It was a Saturday morning and Dean had left for work after telling Sammy to take Jess back by eleven if he didn't get back before. As he waited by the bus stop at the end of his dusty road he thought about how everything seemed to be fitting into place recently. His life had been going so smoothly he'd almost felt normal for a while, he was slowly adjusting to civilian life and letting himself relax, not too much though, obviously. He was overjoyed for Sam but was wary he was head over his heels far too quickly and just hoped it didn't come crashing down on him.

Also he thought about how close he'd gotten to Cas recently. The guy was practically his opposite in most ways but they seemed to just fit each other perfectly. They were inseparable at school and most nights after school. He stayed over and if Gabriel came to pick Cas up some nights, he'd stay for a while and all four of them catch a movie or order in some food and just have a laugh. It all seemed a little too right, too good to be true but Dean cast that thought out of his mind, forcing himself to remain positive. Just then his bus came around the corner to pick him up from his dirty street and take him to the nicer part of town, way out on the outskirts, near where Cas lives come to think of it, Dean observed as they drove along.

He neared the stop and got off, straightening the collar on his jacket and walking towards the library. He checked in with Missouri, who kissed both of his cheeks and told him to take care of that over grown brother of his, before she left and left him the keys to lock up later on.

The library was dead, just the way Dean loved it to be. He chose this moment to pull out his music books from his bag and began to scrawl down a tune being composed in the orchestra of his mind. He took the music through a range of emotions and began to build into a crescendo filling his thoughts with notes and beats and melody and harmonies and-

"Is that music?" A voice brought him crashing down from his fantasy podium that music elevated him to when he let himself go with it. He slammed the book away, a little too violently and, without looking up, coughed awkwardly as he spoke to the desk.

"No. No it's.. No. It's not, its- No. …No." He finished smoothly and when he looked up blinked in shock.

"Hello, Dean." Castiel said, hair readily tousled, of course, shining blue eyes screaming 'guaranteed customer satisfaction every time' at Dean who shook himself, where had that thought come from, this was _Cas _for crying out loud.

"Dude, what the hell are you doing here?" He groaned, realising his cover was well and truly blown and his reputation utterly ruined. Castiel raised an eyebrow and smirked.

"I don't mean any offence, Dean, but who is the more unlikely candidate to be in the library out of the two of us… on a Saturday?" Dean narrowed his eyes and Cas' smirk grew slightly.

"Yeah, yeah. Point taken." He grumbled, defeated.

"You never told me that you worked here, Dean." Castiel said with interest and Dean groaned again.

"I've never told anyone, except Sammy. Now everyone's gonna' know what a total dork I am.." He said trailing off.

"I'm not going to tell anyone if you don't want me to, Dean." Castiel said simply with a content smile on his face and Dean frowned at him.

"What, seriously? Dude, that'd be awesome. I dunno' it's just kinda' lame to work in a freaking library, a total turn off too." He said with a shudder as he imagined the comments.

"I disagree; I think it'd be kind of hot." Castiel said quietly and picked a book up off of the shelf near to the counter and scanned the blurb as Dean tried to catch his breath after being winded by Castiel's 'matter-of-fact' nonchalant comment. He cleared his throat, collecting himself and letting the colour fade from his face.

"Well, yeah, you would." He said, plastering on his regular cheeky smile and Castiel snorted with laughter, agreeing.

They spent the rest of the day at the library and then when Dean closed up and they both had to go home they agreed to meet up the later that night to do their math work that'd been set. All in all Dean's day so far had been pretty great but Cas' comment about working in a library being 'hot' was plaguing his mind. Dean knew he meant if it was someone else, a girl, right?

XXXXXXX

As soon as he got home Dean knew something was wrong, it was just in the air as he walked to the door of his house. He opened it silently, his hunter instincts kicking in and closed it equally as mutely, not letting himself slip. It was dark in the house and when he went to the kitchen to get the shotgun he stopped, shocked as he opened the door.

The light was on and John was in the kitchen, hurrying about grabbing bits here and there from around the kitchen. For a hunt. An angel hunt.

Sam was sat at the table watching his Father move hurriedly making no attempt at movement or anything for that matter which was unlike him. Then Dean saw the tear tracks so very nearly disguised by the deliberate smudge of oil he'd smeared on his face in disguise. He instantly knew something had happened between Sam and Jess. Poor kid. But he had more pressing issues, if Dad was back and there was an angel in town he was going to need some back up short notice, and that probably meant Dean and Sam.

"Hey, Dad." Dean said. John looked up at him

"Get your gear, Dean. We've got an angel around here. Sammy, you're coming too, we need all hands on deck for this one." He said, clearly unhappy about bringing Sam along. Dean tried to calm the sickening feeling in his stomach as he saw Sam's distracted state and took in John's words.

"Dad, Sam can't go he's completely fried."

"Dean, I don't like it anymore than you do, but the more we have on this job the more likely we can get the bastard." John said without looking at him and Dean felt his anger flare at the fact his Father was willing to risk the life of his brother for the sake of one stupid angel hunt.

"Dad, he could get himself killed!-"

"**Enough**, Dean!" John bellowed and the two boys both straightened their backs and cast their eyes to the floor as the voice of their sergeant emerged and they regressed to soldier stance.

"Sam is coming on this hunt, you understand?"

"Yes, sir." Dean bit out and then marched away to get ready, feeling more sick by the second.

XXXXXXX

They followed the trail of grace down a long and empty road that was surrounded by trees. One night every couple of months, mature angels had to go away from civilisation and 'weep'. This meant letting out all the excess grace that'd built up over the months. The build up happens as they can't use their grace near humans and have to release it or it destroys them or explodes outwards and kills everything within a half mile radius. When they had to go and 'weep' – a term hunters gave them – they were most vulnerable as they couldn't control their powers properly, couldn't see anything due to the light that surrounded them when weeping and left a trail of grace which could be followed by hunters. However, weeping angels were deadly as their power was greatest at this period in time and could be even more dangerous as they had no control and could release their power at any given moment.

It usually took about four experienced and skilled hunters to track and kill an angel, which is why John had to have a lot of connections and friends to get the jobs done each time. However, this time no one had been able to come down quick enough and John refused to sit around as they went around killing people and so had dragged out his two boys on their first ever angel hunt and it was extremely risky. They wore hoods in case the angel got close enough to see them and also to shroud their eyes slightly from the blinding light they produced when weeping, but this also made it even more difficult to see and just furthered the dangerous manner of the hunt.

Had it been a wendigo or a skinwalker John may have been more logical, but with angels all of his hunter know how flew out of the window and tactics were non-existent, all that mattered was killing the thing and getting it's 'scum' off of the Earth.

As they closed in on the angel the trail got stronger. The grace was visibly shining on the floor in the moonlight.

"Careful boys, never taste grace, it completely throws you and you just do what feels natural and lose all sense of logic and self control and you could end up getting yourself killed." John hissed as they crept forward. The light got stronger and Dean's eyes stung as he forced himself to keep his guard up fully, struggling to see at all. A branch snapped under someone's foot and the light flickered. Shit. It knew they were here and there was now only one thing for it, attack before it could collect itself.

John surged forwards, fury releasing itself even with his legendary self control. He was thrown backwards and landed on the ground with a thud a few metres away. Dean took his turn and raised the angel blade that was already prepared in his hand, however the angel had turned and Sam was standing, unprepared, completely vulnerable. Dean threw himself in front of Sam, throwing back his brother into the protection of the dark and the angel immediately went for Dean. Dean got in one fatal slam of his knife before he was launched back and slammed into a tree, cracking his head and blacking out slowly as he felt blood trickling down his face.

XXXXXXX

Dean cracked open his eyes, his head throbbed in pain as he sat up. He stood up quicker than he intended and the dizzying sensation nearly made him throw up but he managed to stabilise himself before he was forced to eject the contents of his stomach. When he left his room he found his brother pacing outside who immediately rushed to him when Den appeared from behind his door.

"Hey, I'm fine. _T'is but a scratch_!" Dean quoted with a laugh, trying to make light of things. Sam's face didn't ease an inch and simply had confusion added to the pic n' mix of emotions playing with his features.

"Dude, Monty Python. …Seriously? How are you my brother?!" He exclaimed jokily again but regretted it with a wince of pain as his head throbbed again.

"Dean!" Sam scolded; worry giving his brow creases that were specifically for the purpose of worrying about Dean. But his face quickly fell into one of shame and despair as he hung his head.

"I'm so sorry, Dean. I completely screwed up, it's lucky you didn't get killed."

"Ah, come one, Sammy, don't do that to yourself. You were distracted. Dad was an idiot. And all I did was save your ass, like I always have and always will. It's no big deal, just a bumped head, don't get your panties in a twist, okay, little brother?" He said sternly and Sam sighed and nodded, still not fully placated.

"Now go do homework, or debate club practice, or whatever you geeks do on a Saturday night." Dean said with an authoritive smirk and Sam sighed again and trudged off to his room and shortly after his lame music was playing full blast, making the house vibrate comfortably. Sam knew Dean didn't mind and it clearly meant John had left if he was playing his music. Their Father had either gone to a bar, in which case he certainly wouldn't be back tonight, or he'd left again, in which case they'd not see him for another couple of weeks. Basically John wasn't winning any Father of the year awards.

When Dean heard a knock at the door he put down his can of beer – which had been refilled with something far stronger more times than he'd care to mention, turned the television to mute and hobbled to the door, a slight stabbing pain in his leg making walking risky. He caught sight of himself in the mirror in the hall and winced seeing his bruised face and clearly bloodstained head, strapped up with a bandage, disappearing into his hair but majorly visible from the front. He sighed, charms of the trade – you get souvenirs, he thought to himself as he went for the door. As he opened he heard a gasp.

"Dean! What happened to you? Are you okay?" Castiel asked in a flurry at seeing his friend's beaten and bandaged state. Dean had forgotten completely about his plans with Cas.

"Oh, Crap, Cas, sorry I totally forgot about us meeting up. Do you mind if we do this another time?" He said softly and apologetically, avoiding the question, as he went to close the door but unlike his other friends who would've accepted that when Dean was in this state you should leave him be, Castiel was having none of it. He whipped out his hand pushing the door, easily overpowering Dean in his feeble state and his eyes widened when he saw all of Dean, practically crippled as he hunched over in obvious pain.

"Dean," He breathed after closing the door.

"What happened to you?" Castiel asked again. Dean shrugged and then cried out when his shoulder protested noisily. Castiel moved forwards immediately to help but Dean's pride wouldn't allow him to accept any help and he backed off, shaking his head.

"Sam got into a situation, so I pulled him out and got a little bump on the way out, but don't worry Sammy's fine." Dean said casually and Castiel's eyes widened even further.

"What about you?!" He said as he followed Dean's hobbling form down the hallway.

"I'm fine, Cas." But his body betrayed him as he was ambushed by a pain in his leg and went plummeting to the ground and Castiel instantly swooped in and pulled him steady. Dean muttered a thanks and allowed himself to be steered to the living room. It was getting later now and Castiel had been worried that it was too late to hang out and hadn't bothered to bring any work at this time but couldn't resist seeing Dean twice in one day and Michael had allowed it. However now he purely concerned about Dean. Clearly something major had happened but he was unwilling to talk about it for some reason and it bothered Castiel.

They both sat down on the sofa, music was pumping through the house, clearly not Dean's taste, as Castiel watched Dean pour more whiskey into his beer bottle, who was he kidding? He spilt it over himself and Cas realised Dean must've been very drunk and took the bottle away from Dean who barely put up a fight, he was just so sleepy and the alcohol made his vision blurred and the pain numbed and he couldn't choose between succumbing to sleep or Cas.

"Dean, are you going to tell me what really happened?" Castiel asked softly, hoping he could maybe use Dean's drunken state to obtain some information, even though he felt bad about it, he was terrified Dean was getting abused or something. But then again he was always on his own, so that couldn't be it. Come to think of it, Cas had never seen Dean's Mom ever once.

"Cas, please just… just please don't. I just need you to, I mean, just, can you…" Dean's words were slurred and he was looking directly into Cas' eyes as his startlingly bright ones tried to tell him the truth that he couldn't say out loud. Castiel gulped at the small space between them and Dean only moved closer.

"Dean, you are very drunk." Castiel stated, going to move away, he needed to leave before something got out of control but Dean shot out a hand to his and tugged him back, still holding onto his hand tightly when Cas was back sitting. Castiel gulped again as Dean's eyes slipped to his lips several times and the air between them seemed to grow thinner as the lack of oxygen made both boys' heads spin for different reasons.

"Cas, I… I mean… I like your lips." Dean said croakily, but it was the only sentence not slurred and he seemed to be genuinely entranced. Castiel's heart was racing, crashing against the cage of his ribs as if trying to escape, to get closer to Dean.

"You- You do?" Castiel whispered, his breathing shallow. Dean frowned and nodded. He slowly inched his head closer, and Castiel fought with himself. Dean was really, very drunk and if he did remember this he'd be pissed. It could ruin their friendship. It could make rumours go around school. It could complicate everything but…

Dean was going to kiss him.

Dean brought his hand to the side of Cas' face and let his fingers trace down the side of his cheek before letting his hand rest there and incredibly slowly tilting Castiel's head up so their lips were a centimetre away and Castiel was looking up at Dean. It could be so perfect.

But Castiel couldn't. He didn't want it to be like this, their first and maybe only kiss a drunken, possibly forgotten mistake on a random night that would be buried and never spoken about and could ruin their whole friendship.

He took Dean's hand from his face and painfully tore himself away from Dean. He pushed Dean into a lying position on the couch and shushed his protests and told him he needed to sleep. Dean was out in seconds once he was free from Cas' alluring glow and Castiel fought back his emotions as he placed the only thing he could, his jacket, over Dean's sleeping form and left. As he opened the door he cursed. A blizzard was falling thickly, he'd clearly let his powers go again, only the scary thing this time was he didn't even noticed. Dean just did that to him. He should distance himself from Dean, put as much space between them as he could, in fact, for everyone's safety.

But he couldn't. It was Dean.

XXXXXXX

When he got home, shivering, having caught a cold from walking home, as he'd missed the last bus, and it was snowing heavily and his jacket was on the sleeping body of Dean Winchester.

He let himself in when he reached his door and was immediately hit by a wall of sound. Shouts, cries, screams of pain that made his stomach drop. He ran into the living room and sprawled of the sofa was Michael, Castiel had thought he was supposed to be weeping tonight. He was bleeding from a gaping wound in his side, his grace pouring from his body.

"M-Michael!"

**A/N: Shoved in a load of fandom references for all the fangirls out there so let me know what you thought. I hope this was alright, I needed to add some underlying tension between angels and hunters for later reveals and things. Please let me know what you thought, what you'd like to see next chapter, or anything at all in a review it helps me so much and is amazing! Also I hope you liked the Destiel in this chapter, a bit more angsty than usual. Hope you enjoyed. Thanks for reading!**


	5. Chapter 5 - Grace Is Thicker Than Water

**A/N: Sorry it's been ages, got ill, had a five hour exam to prepare for, etc. Hopefully back to normal now, thank you for the amazing response last chapter I was so amazingly happy. Going to use a few ideas that you guys sent to me and yes, by demand, it got kind of hot in this chapter. I hope I did it justice. Please review and let me know, and let me know what you want to see in the coming chapters. This chapter is long. Song inspiration: Give Me A Reason – Three Days Grace (Have a listen!) Enjoy!**

Castiel lay flat underneath his bed, invisible to the rest of the world, squeezing his eyes closed, trying to shut out the screams and shouts of arguments between his siblings downstairs. Michael, from what they could tell wasn't healing well, he still wouldn't wake up. No one would tell him what had happened but he wasn't an idiot, he knew Michael had been attacked, he just didn't know who by and why. Perhaps it was because they'd found out that they were angels. Michael had always stressed how dangerous it was to be angel under the pretence of a human but Castiel had never thought anyone would want to hurt them, the thought made him shudder.

As soon as Lucifer was sure that Michael wasn't going to die just then he stormed out of the house saying something about hunters and Anna had begged him to stay but he'd ignored her. Raphael and Uriel had tried to follow suit but Anna put her foot down then and said that no one else was going anywhere. This had sparked off huge arguments over who was in charge of who and what good it was doing sitting here when Michael's attacker was still out there.

Sunday was spent on shifts taking care of Michael, everyone disregarding Castiel's demands and pleas for any information. Every half an hour another fight broke out and he couldn't stand it. Usually he'd get out, maybe go to Dean's, but he couldn't leave, not with Michael in this state. Monday morning came and Castiel had barely scraped two minutes of sleep. His eyes were heavy and pained but nonetheless he got up from his hiding place to go and see Michael.

As he walked over to his door Anna intercepted him, an overtired but patient smile on her face.

"He's better than last night, stronger, he's definitely getting his grace back, Castiel." She said steadily but her face betrayed her.

"But he's still in danger." He stated and Anna ran a hand through her unkempt fiery hair which was all the response Castiel needed and he tried to move past her again to see Michael but she got in his way again.

"Castiel, I need you to go to school." She said slowly, biting her lip. Castiel frowned.

"I'm not going whilst Michael's life is at risk, Anna." He yet again tried to move to the door but her hand found his shoulder and kept him there.

"I'm sorry, Castiel, but you must," She continued sadly. He frowned in confused agitation.

"But why? I want to stay here!"

"I know, but," Her eyes seemed to fill up with tears ans she smiled painfully, trying to blink them back.

"Castiel, Michael is our legal guardian and he's the only one old enough for that title. You and Gabe are still underage. If anyone found out he was unfit to take care of you-"

"He's not unfit!" Castiel shouted making the lights burst, a fact which they both ignored.

"They'll take you away, Castiel!" She shouted in response, tears falling freely down her cheeks and guilt panged through Castiel as he saw the fear in his sister's eyes at the thought of them being separated. She brought her hand to the side of his face and stroked his cheek, in the way she'd always done since he was a small child.

"We can't lose you, either of you, okay? They'd send you both to our cousin Zachariah in Massachusetts and we wouldn't be allowed to see you. I'm not going to let that happen, alright? So I need you to go to school and behave normally until Michael gets better. I know it's hard and I know you don't want to leave him but if you don't then people will find out and it will all escalate so please… _please _do as I ask."

"Of course, Anna. I apologise for being difficult. I will attend school like normal." He said quietly, feeling terrible for putting up any dispute in the first place. She nodded with a small smile and flipped her wrist absently fixing the lights with a touch of her grace, something which ordinarily Michael would disapprove of, but she knew it made Castiel happy to see the flicker of grace in her eye.

School was bad.

Gabriel had slammed out of the house and no doubt would skip off of a few lessons but that wouldn't raise any eyebrows, it was Castiel who had appearances to keep up. Jo pestered him briefly but he managed to set her mind at ease by spinning some story about Gabriel keeping him up all night with a movie marathon and she laughed, satisfied that he was alright. Bella prodded him during biology wanting an answer as to why he wasn't volunteering to answer every question like normal and he absently replied that he'd been studying all night and was too tired to do work and she laughed and said something about being up all night for a whole different reason. Ash bumped into him in the corridor when he wasn't paying attention to where he was going, too busy avoiding Dean. Ash laughed and helped pick up his things asking where the hell his head was at and he'd smiled falsely and spouted a tale about going out with his family to visit some relatives until late last night. Ash, content, slapped him on the back and reminded him you couldn't choose your family.

The day was dragging on but he was clawing his way through lessons, faking his class work, spinning falsehoods to his friends, hiding from his teachers, but there was one thing he couldn't do. He refused to lie to Dean. Not more lies. He was closer to Dean than he thought capable of any human being outside his immediate family and he hated not being able to tell him the truth about himself. The only thing that kept him going was the thought, the dim hope, that one day he'd tell Dean, and the even smaller shimmer of hope, that Dean would accept him.

He managed to hide during break and had no lessons with him in the first half of the day. He dodged out of the lunch hall and spent his dinner time hiding in a computer room, eating his lunch under a desk. He couldn't bring himself to walk into that math and tell Dean he was okay when he wasn't. He could do it everyone else, but not only would Dean see straight through him, he didn't want to. He went in early and told his teacher he was feeling ill and was allowed to go the medical room, upon which he went and walked aimlessly around the school, worry and guilt a festering plague in his mind.

Dean walked into his class, ready to give his so-called best friend the freaking Spanish inquisition as to what the hell was going on and why he was avoiding him and ground his teeth when he saw the empty seat at their back bench. He turned to walk out of the class immediately.

"Mr Winchester, sit down, as much as you and I both may not want you in this room, you're here." Mr Masters snapped with a sneer, smug bastard, Dean thought to himself.

"Sir, I've got to-"

"I don't care. _Sit_." The man said, clearly enjoying his twisted and poor form of oppressive power and Dean just couldn't bring himself to care about this pathetic little man. His head still throbbed if he moved too quickly from being injured on the hunt, Sammy was constantly depressed that he and Jess were over, his Dad had left again, and now Cas was avoiding him. Mr Masters and quadratic equations really were beyond the last thing on his list of things to care about.

"Yeah, not today, pal." He said with a bored shrug.

"Mr Winchester, you are required to be in this lesson." Mr Masters fumed.

"Yeah? Sue me." He replied happily turning towards the door once more.

"I'll have the school ring your parents about this, Mr Winchester." Dean laughed loudly.

"Yeah, good luck with that, you tell me how it goes," He said as he walked out and the door slammed loudly behind him. Sure, he'd pay for that later, but right now he had more important things to worry about.

Dean ran through the corridors, he knew Cas wouldn't leave school but he was hiding out somewhere. He checked the bathroom, the library and then proceeded to look through the gyms and empty classrooms. Just as he was about to admit defeat he heard a sigh from around the corner of a row of lockers. He walked around the corner and found Cas slumped on the floor, leaning into them, head in his hands. Without saying a word he pulled Cas' arm and dragged him to his feet. Castiel's head snapped up at the contact.

"Dean!" He said shocked and embarrassed, caught red handed. He waited for the questions, the accusations but Dean just looked around and then pulled his arm again and walked with him. They went outside and to the Impala. Dean, still not saying a word, barely even looking at Cas, pushed him inside and then climbed in himself. Castiel was too caught up in his confusion at Dean's actions to care about school, the teachers thought he'd gone home sick anyway.

They drove thankfully, to Dean's house and Dean just walked straight in, knowing Cas would be following him. The silence was unique amongst those two. They were forever laughing and joking so silence usually meant something, even in their comfortable silences they'd both have something on their mind and would simply come to each other for comfort. Silence for any other reason was a sure sign something was up.

They went up to Dean's room and Dean waited until Cas was inside, closed the door and sat down on his bed, Castiel following suit. Dean turned to him expectantly.

"Talk to me." He said simply. Cas faked a confused frown but Dean saw through it immediately at the absence of his trademark head tilt, Cas was hiding something from him.

"There's nothing to talk about, Dean." He said carefully. Dean nodded looking away.

"Right, right. So that's why Jo thinks you had a movie night with Gabe, Bella reckons you were studying all night and Ash says you were kicking it with your folks all night. Sure sounds like nothing." Dean stated flatly, looking him dead in the eye, desperate for a reaction and if being blunt was the only way he'd get one so be it. Cas could lie to everyone else but that shit just wasn't going to fly with him.

"Dean, I was just-"

"Just what, Cas? Lying to everyone, skipping classes, not coming to lunch, _avoiding me_. Please don't sit there and lie to me, Cas." Dean said quietly and that made Cas snap. He stood up suddenly spinning to face Dean who was still sitting.

"I'm not! I didn't! Why do you think I've been avoiding you all day, Dean? I couldn't bring myself to willingly walk into a class and lie  
to you for an hour, okay? I couldn't sit next to you at lunch and tell you something that wasn't true! I physically couldn't do it. I couldn't lie to you again, Dean!" He shouted and he froze momentarily when Dean's eyes narrowed and he realised his mistake. Dean stood up slowly.

"What do you mean, again, Cas?"

"N-nothing, I just meant-"

"What, there's something you're not telling me?" Dean demanded raising an eyebrow and taking a step forward.

"Have you got some girl on the go behind my back or something? What the hell, Cas?!" Dean said, a look of 'please deny it' flashing in his eyes before he masked it with anger. Castiel wanted to deny it, he wanted to scream that of course it wasn't true, how could it possibly be true, why would he possibly want someone else when Dean was standing in front of him. But he couldn't. And he needed an alibi as to what he'd lied about. And he was angry. And stupid.

"So what if there was? That's not your business, Dean! And don't sit there on your high horse, okay! You've been lying to me since we met, I know you have! I believed that you'd tell me when you're ready but I realise now that I was foolish to think you ever really liked me enough to tell me the truth." The words were pouring out before he could stop them and hurt warped Dean's face as he took them all in silence.

"You think you can just march into my life and command me to tell you everything I am or feel or do and yet you look me in the eye every day and lie plain to my face and what's worse you don't _care_, you _never _cared." Dean winced as if the words were a brick being thrown through his heart of glass and the shards of its broken remains were digging into him, tearing their way through, making everything hurt more.

"It's great to really see how far you care that you only worry about whether I'm dating someone without telling you. Well I might be getting shipped out of here anyway so you won't have to worry about that anymore." Castiel said, his throat ragged and his voice cracked. Dean's eyes widened as the words hit home and Castiel turned to walk out, beginning to open the door. Dean grabbed his arm and span him round, pushing him back against the door which closed it with a bang.

"What're you talking about? Shipped where? You can't leave," Dean croaked out desperately. Castiel squeezed his eyes shut and bashed his head back against the door and the glass on Dean's bedside table exploded and the window slammed open covering them in cold, sobering air.

"What does it matter, Dean? I'm going." Castiel whispered apologetically.

"Cas, please, just listen to me. You can't leave. Whatever you're going to do, or wherever you're thinking of going, please don't. I know, I've been lying to you since we met. I'm an idiot and I wish I hadn't but.." Dean stared squarely at Cas, trying to find the right words, or any words right now would be great. Castiel's eyes begged him for something, anything, everything and Dean could only oblige in one way.

"I lied, Cas," He said very slowly, pulling the letters along his tongue slowly, taking as long as he could, debating how much of the truth he could give. He desperately and with all his heart wanted to tell Cas everything but knew he could only give a fraction.

"About my Mom, I mean, I lied about her, Cas."

"..What about her-"

"She's dead, Cas. My Mom's.. dead, she's gone." He choked out bitterly and Castiel's eyes went wide and he unconsciously put a hand on Dean's shoulder pulling him in just a fraction.

"I didn't want to tell you because… Well people treat you different, you know? You're really one of a kind, you that, Cas. You treated me different from everyone else. I knew you'd find out eventually but I couldn't do it. I couldn't put that pity in your eyes. I didn't want it, any of it. But don't you dare say I don't care, that I never cared cos'…" Dean gulped back the ever growing lump in his throat and half noted how close they were to each other.

"I do. I always have, okay? Cas, buddy, _I need you_. Please, don't leave." He begged quietly and felt himself leaning in more but didn't pay real attention to anything outside of Cas. Castiel's heart was pounding, he could taste his grace in his mouth as Dean leaned closer to him.

"I won't go, Dean. I'll stay. I'll stay here with you." He whispered and Dean felt his Cas' breath on his lips.

Castiel should've known better. His emotions were practically rioting. What with Michael getting attacked, Lucifer walking out, his siblings arguing, the ever-lingering threat of being dragged off to Massachusetts, having to mask it at school, Dean's confession and now having him two centimetres from his face. His grace was swelling madly and had either of them been paying attention they would've noticed the wind coming through the window was practically a gale as Castiel let his powers run free of reins. It was when Dean put his own hand over the one that Castiel had placed on his shoulder that he truly let go. His grace melted in his heart as Dean searched every inch of his eyes and his own widened slightly. Castiel's grace spread to his eyes and his cerulean irises lit up. Not in a metaphorical sense, as in they literally were glowing brightly and sparkling. Still tasting grace in his mouth, his heart thumping like a bass drum in an up tempo beat, he didn't give Dean a chance to exclaim at his eyes.

He moved his hand and hooked it around Dean's neck and closed the distance between them, pulling their lips together and kissing him soundly. It was everything that he'd imagined and more. His senses exploded as his grace raced through his body and his heart felt like a shivering wreck and it was just so _right_. Dean melted into him in the most beautiful way. He wrapped his arms around Cas and kissed him deeply drawing a moan from Castiel that should've been illegal. It was at that moment that Dean got his first taste of grace, and the effect was immediate and painfully amazing.

He groaned loudly and pushed him forcefully further back against the door. He moulded their bodies together and tangled one of his hands in Castiel's hair as the other pulled on the boy's tie, not giving an inch. Castiel couldn't help himself, everything was happening so quickly he couldn't stop to register anything other than Dean and he didn't think he'd ever want to again. Both arms now locked around Dean's neck pulling with all his strength to keep him there though none of it was needed.

Dean continued to push him up against the door and Castiel moaned again as he felt Dean's hand leave his hair and run roughly down his body. He pushed his hips against Dean's and Dean reacted, using both hands to pull Cas' hips up and Castiel wrapped his legs around Dean's waist, never feeling more blissful than he did between Dean and the door. The contrast of their bodies heating up as cold air whipped through their hair was exhilarating and they both submerged themselves in it.

Dean suddenly lifted Cas up properly and turned somehow reaching the bed and throwing Castiel onto it before climbing over him and joining their lips again. Castiel didn't know how they'd gotten to this point but he didn't care, the feeling of Dean's lips against his, his hands roaming wherever they wanted, his moans filling his mouth, it was too perfect to begin to question.

Dean tore his mouth away from Cas who almost whimpered at the loss of contact but was sated when dean started trailing kisses down his neck, driving him crazy making him buck his hips and he heard Dean's dark chuckle as he made his way back up and, much to Castiel's happiness, pulled their lips together again, renewing their earlier motion. Castiel's cheeks were tinged with pink as he got more hot and bothered by each second. He, somewhere in a tiny, miniscule corner of his mind, felt something, a rope or bond of some sort on the verge of breaking and would've wondered what it was but got distracted by Dean's hands finding fascination in pursuing his skin as they clawed their way into his shirt and moved up his chest.

Castiel had never experienced passion anything close to this, it was incredible and terrifying and perfect all at the same time. It was only when Dean ground their hips together that he felt the barrier in his mind break and he gasped into Dean's lips and the window shattered, the door flew open, the light bulbs burst, every item on Dean's shelves threw themselves onto the floor, the ground shook and Castiel shoved Dean off of him and clambered off of the bed.

Both he and Dean were breathless and were gulping in air like it was on sale. The sight of Dean, ruffled, hot and needy on a bed was not something Castiel would ever forget, nor thought he'd ever get to see but his senses were returning to him now, as were Dean's. His green eyes which had previously been glowing bright emerald with grace were slowly dimming as Dean clutched his head feeling a come down like none other he'd ever experienced.

Castiel remembered everything about grace. He'd let it out of control just before they'd kissed and Dean had tasted it and taken it all in and had just acted on impulse. Human impulse. Not real desire. It hadn't been real. Castiel had basically mind-warped Dean into doing that. He felt more sick by the second. He couldn't let Dean know. About any of it, that he had powers, that he was an angel, that he had grace, but most importantly, for some irrational reason, he couldn't bear the thought that Dean would know he'd manipulated his body into reacting like that. He'd never be able to face him again, and Dean would never want him to.

Before Dean's mind and body had a chance to truly catch up he moved to him quickly and Dean had a split second to meet his eye with confusion and slight fear at what he was feeling before Cas touched his forehead and simultaneously wiped his memory and made him sleep and Dean collapsed into the bed. He used Anna's trick and flicked his wrist, righting the terrible mess in Dean's room and then refastened up his shirt and pulled his coat back on as tears fell down his face.

He just stood there for a minute looking at Dean's unconscious figure before he shut his eyes and let his head fall into his hands, tears forming a stream on his cheeks now. He couldn't stay there any longer and ran out of the room running directly into Sam, who was home early for some reason.

"Woah, Cas, you okay?" He asked shocked at the look of true agony on his face. Castiel couldn't even respond and just ran. Out of their house. Away from Dean. Away from Sam. Away from his stupid mistake. Away from his guilt. Away from his fear. What would Michael think of him if he knew? And then all thoughts of Michael reappeared and it was just blow after blow. He made his way home, hating himself and his actions. Hating being an angel. Hating the feeling that he'd used Dean in such a way. Hating the fact that he wanted nothing more but to do it again.

Had he realised that his actions would bring back John Winchester with a vengeance and what that would mean for him, he would've ran home. But nothing would stop the trail of grace he was leaving as they escaped through his tears. Things were about to get a whole lot more complicated.

**A/N: So this was really long but I figured I haven't updated in a while and I needed to give this a bit longer to do it properly. I hope it was alright, please let me know in a review, any thoughts and ideas for future chapters, I read them all and usually use them all and it's super helpful and makes me smile and write more, yay. Hope you enjoyed. Thanks for reading! Izzie.**


	6. Chapter 6 - Don't Forget To Remember

Dean awoke the next morning with the worst headache he'd ever experienced. It was like the feeling of his most horrific hangover but tenfold and something extra on top he couldn't quite place. All his senses felt numbed and his head felt dense and cloudy as he pulled himself off of the bed. Catching sight of himself in the mirror he noticed his shirt was crumpled and his hair was ruffled and his stomach dropped at the thought that he might've picked up some girl and just couldn't remember. But he swatted away this thought as he never drank on a Monday night or picked up any girls.

Come on, Dean, think, he urged. His thoughts were scattered in an odd order, with pieces missing and other pieces of something he couldn't put into place. It was like someone had skimmed a stone in his mind and every time it touched the surface of the water he'd gain a memory, but the gap in which it bounced was blank and void of anything.

Retracing his memories he thought back to looking for Cas after walking out of math. He cringed slightly at the thought of having to face Mr Masters again but pushed the thought aside for the moment. Suddenly the slightly fuzzy image of finding Cas around the corner of some lockers came into focus and he gasped as he felt like he'd been electrocuted. The spark of his memory springing back to him sent a shockwave through his system and only made his head throb more. His sudden and seemingly-temporary amnesia was more than a little frustrating and Dean opened his door to go and get a drink to clear his head.

As soon as Sam heard the click of Dean's door opening he stormed out into the hall and grabbed his brother by the shoulders, fixing him with a stern look.

"What the hell did you do to Cas?" He demanded and Dean blinked at him.

"I… Wait, what?" He asked and his look of genuine and utter confusion took Sam aback slightly and Dean could never really lie to Sam. Sam had expected guilt or anger or a shrug of indignation and the façade of nonchalance but this threw him. Sam frowned, also confused.

"Dean, he came out of your room last night freaking crying his eyes out, bumped into me and then bolted. I went in and you were totally out of it. I figured you were drunk and had said something stupid or something.." He said, still a little suspicious. Dean's eyes widened in panic.

"What! Well, where did he go? Dude, is he okay? I didn't do anything! I mean, I don't think I did, I can't remember. But I didn't drink anything so I know I can't be hungover but I didn't do anything to upset the dude!" He stumbled on his words, speaking more to himself at the end than Sam as he brought a hand to his head and pushed his fingers into the depths of his hair, clinging on as if causing himself pain would prompt something, a memory maybe.

Another spark. As the pressure of his hand to his head got slightly painful another shockwave much alike to the one he'd received in his room rebounded through his veins and the image of Cas with a guilty look on his face as he stood by Dean's door emerged in his mind's eye. He stared, dumbstruck, as he realised he was pulling his own memories into view. What the hell?!

Sam noticed the change instantly and immediately helped to stabilise his brother as he swayed dangerously on the spot, his eyes distant.

"Dean, you're freaking me out, what the hell's going on?" Sam said, concern tainting his tone as his worried eyes attempted to reconnect with Dean's. Dean finally seemed to regain himself and met Sam's eyes.

"I dunno', Sammy. But I need to find Cas n' make sure he's okay." Sam didn't bother to object as Dean went to get some shoes on and tried to ignore the ever-growing siren effect in his brain as pain ricocheted around his skull.

It was easy to say Dean was freaked out. Not only had he somehow managed to lose his short term memory without the excuse of alcohol or illegal substances, more importantly, from the way Sam had described it, he'd done something to Cas, something really bad, maybe even something he couldn't fix. Sure as hell didn't mean he wasn't going to try. He ignored Sam's gentle reminders that it was a school day and said to say he was ill if anyone asked and prayed Cas was staying at home today, it seemed avoidance was his game plan as of late, after all.

Just as his brother left, Sam slumped on the sofa realising he had about two hours until school started, it was only when he heard the rumble of the Impala that he realised he had no ride to school now.

"Great." He sighed to himself and got out his books to study simply for some form of occupation and distraction from the knowing feeling that something bigger was going on with Castiel than either he or Dean knew or understood.

Dean drove less carefully than Castiel would've approved of had he been riding shotgun over to Cas' part of town. He decided it might be a bad idea to park it near Cas' house and instead dropped Baby off in the library car park a few blocks away and ran the rest of the way, finding it difficult not to act with urgency when Cas could be hating him more with each passing second.

He finally reached Cas' door and didn't bother to take a second to catch his breath, not important, his brain barely registered his staggering breaths as he knocked on the door. It took a while before a grumbling voice appeared from behind the door which turned out to be Gabriel, half-dressed, sleepy eyes and a can of body spray held loosely in his hand.

"Dude, kudos to you for being so psyched for school, but I could seriously kick your ass for this." Gabriel grumbled croakily, his voice surprisingly low and his energy surprisingly low as the time was so early. Dean raised his eyebrows.

"Sorry, man, I just really need to see, Cas." Dean said hurriedly and Gabriel scoffed.

"Psh, hell yeah you do. Sometimes I really wonder what the hell gets him about you, Winchester." Gabriel chuckled absently and Dean frowned, having lost what Gabriel was going on about.

"Right.. Well, yeah, okay…" He said and pushed past Gabriel who suddenly stiffened and grabbed his arm with a shocked expression which he quickly masked with a nervous smirk.

"Gabe, dude, I need to-"

"Yeah, yeah, Cassie, I know. Er… Do me a favour, this spray any good?" He asked quickly and before Dean could even process the question he was being drowned in Gabriel's spray. He coughed and spluttered as he and Gabe were submerged in a gas cloud of sickly sweet body spray.

"Gabe! I feel like I just inhaled a sherbet fountain!" He tried, his throat constricting under the pressure of separating oxygen from sugar in aftershave form. Gabe gave another nervous chuckle which sounded a little strained.

"Good, just checking." Dean narrowed his eyes, still coughing, at the clouded figure in the grand hallway and went to go upstairs before he remembered Sam.

"Shit!" He swore unthinking.

"What's up, candy cane?" Gabe joked, even though he was spluttering slightly now too.

"Yeah, hilarious, jackass. Listen, man, I need to talk to Cas but I forgot Sammy needs a lift, do me a favour, man, pick him up?" Dean asked and Gabriel raised his eyebrows incredulously.

"Let me get this straight, you want me to go, in the car I don't have, and pick up the brother I don't have, for the dude who likes to screw with my brother, who I care about." Gabriel said, a sly look on his face as he realised he had Dean there. Dean growled and pulled out his keys, throwing them to Gabe.

"You like Sam. You know I don't screw with Cas, I'm trying to sort things out. You take my car, library car park, one scratch on my Baby and I will remove your limbs and use your blood for a new paint job, okay, pal?" Dean said sturdily and Gabriel rolled his eyes with a smile on his face as he winked and ran to get ready.

Dean sighed, now on top of his head pounding, his lungs were protesting vigorously as he choked his way upstairs. He wondered if any of Castiel's siblings were around and then remembered the distinct lack of cars in the driveway and realised they must've gone out, maybe to take Michael to the hospital or something.

He made his way round the upstairs hall and reached Cas' door, tapping on it gently when he tried it and the lock refused him entry.

"Cas, it's Dean. Can we talk?" He croaked raggedly. He was greeted with silence and it made him place his head against the door.

"Cas, please. I don't know what's going on. Whatever I've done… At least let me apologise in face to face." He pleaded to the door. Silence.

"Alright, fine." Dean said, resolve in his voice as he walked away from the door.

Castiel lay under his bed, his chest tightening at the sound of Dean's voice at the door when Gabriel opened it. Shortly after he read a text from Gabriel that read:

_Want to explain why Dean stinks of your grace? I had to gas the guy just to cover it. We're talking about this later. I'm picking up Sammy for him, fun times ;)_

He hated the way his heart jumped at the thought of Dean being marked by his grace. He didn't want to make this into some stupid instinctual territorial thing. Dean didn't belong to him, or anyone for that matter. He had no right. And yet he still felt a primal desire to let his grace overwhelm him and channel it all to Dean, just like he'd done in Dean's room yesterday. He ground his teeth and shook his head trying to clear it and rid himself of the fire in his veins at the mere thought of it.

He lay in silence, fighting his feelings, his instincts, his thoughts, as Dean begged to him through the door. The most painful thing was that Dean was under the impression he'd done something wrong. No doubt from Sam as he'd seen the state Castiel was in last night, he cursed himself yet again for losing control in the first place, then none of this would've happened.

As Dean audibly walked away from the door Castiel exhaled a breath of sad relief and steeled himself so as to not go after him. This is for the best. You'll only hurt him or do something that could get everyone hurt.

Dean was half way up the tree outside Cas' house when his foot slipped from unpractised feet and hurried hands and he fell a few feet, scraping his face as he went before he recovered his footing as took in a deep, shaky breath to steady himself before returning to his climb with more care. He, at last, reached Cas' window which was thankfully at the front of the house, perfectly adjacent to the tree, as if it were planted for the exact desire to be used to sneak out with, even though he knew Cas probably had never used that perfect tool.

He realised his luck was improving as the window was already open wide and it was easy to lower himself inside quietly. Cas' room was empty on first look but Dean knew better than to be disheartened, he was a big brother after all, he knew top hiding places. He slid under the bed next to Castiel, who gasped, wordlessly.

"Dean! How- How did you get in?" Castiel's queried.

"Window." Dean admitted sheepishly, looking at his friend beside him, the refreshing cool of his blue eyes seemed to lure him in like a moth to a flame and he could feel his headache fade into the background as he lost himself in the other boy's healing ocean eyes. Castiel sighed, defeated as he noticed the cut on Dean's face. Without thinking he put his hand to Dean's cheek and Dean, without noticing, leaned into the touch. Castiel noticed. His heart skipped slightly and trembled and he withdrew his hand, making a point not to use his grace to heal Dean's gash.

"You need a band aid." Castiel muttered as he tried to roll out from under the bed but Dean grabbed his arm and tugged, rolling him back under the bed and closer than before.

"Screw the band aid, Cas. What's going on? What did I do? I did something. I know I did. I always do. Whatever it was, man, I'm sorry. You're my best friend and I can't have you hating me, okay? I just can't. I don't know what happened, and I'm kinda' freaked that my head kills like a bitch and I can't remember anything after being in my room like I was drunk off my face. Or maybe you just rufee-d me." He joked on a side note, Castiel smiling despite himself and Dean continued, encouraged.

"Whatever, look, man. Whatever I did, please just… I'm sorry."

"Dean, stop-"

"No, Cas, I need to get this out."

"No, Dean. You didn't do anything wrong. It was me. I mean- I- You have nothing to apologise for." And now, looking ashamed, Castiel did climb out from under the bed and stood up, turning away from Dean as he did the same.

"Cas, please, just freaking tell me what happened, man, you're killing me here!" Dean said, frustration edging into his tone, not specifically at Castiel but at the situation as a whole and his memory, refusing him access to his memories.

"It's not of import." Castiel muttered. Dean growled at his best friend's avoidance and stomped over to him, grabbing his shoulder roughly and forcing him to face him.

"Stow the macho crap, Cas, it doesn't suit you." He snapped and Castiel visibly bared his teeth and shoved Dean away.

"What's done is done, Dean. I'm not some damsel in distress, I can handle myself. I'm just burying my feelings, you should understand that, it being your style after all." He retaliated and hated the look of hurt that flashed on Dean's face before it was replaced with more anger.

"Take as many digs at me as you want, Cas, I can take it. If you'd just tell me what the hell I did then-" Dean shouted, fuming now that he really didn't know what had happened. Castiel snapped. Every inch of his being was screaming at him to tell Dean everything, not just about being angel, about how he felt things for Dean he'd never felt in his life, things he didn't even understand. How he was sorry, sorry he felt the way he did. But he also was angry at Dean. He wanted to shout and scream, demand to know why he wasn't good enough, why he could never just have something he wanted. Something pure, and good. Something _Dean_. Just this once, why couldn't he have what he wanted? Why couldn't he have Dean?

"It's what you didn't do! It's what you can't do, what you'll never do!" Castiel shouted in Dean's face, tasting his grace again, and then his eyes widened at his own words and he backed off, but Dean just matched him, stepping forward when he stepped back, not giving an inch.

Castiel's heart was pounding as his head span in the sea of grace. Dean's head pounded with his earlier headache and the effort of blood trying desperately to get around his body in the rate his heart was demanding and his pulse ran a marathon, lapping his breath. He grabbed Cas' shoulders frantically, unable to dismiss the ever-present and now building desire to taste Castiel's lips and make out with him until he couldn't breathe and then carry on because, hey, who needs oxygen when you can kiss Cas until you die.

The thoughts were all occurring to him too quickly and he was dizzy and disorientated under the weight of these shattering discoveries. Since when did he think of Cas like that? Since when did not kissing someone make you physically ache. Since when did your heart feel like it was literally leaning forwards, just to get closer to another person? Since when? It was like a rope, or a chain, was suddenly latched onto him, it was pulling at his heart, tearing at his lungs, ripping at his mind. It was overwhelming and terrifying and delicious and painful and wonderful all at once.

"What!? I'll never do **what**?!" Dean shouted, his hands still clamped down on Cas' arms, leaning over to him, desperate for something but he didn't know what entirely, but he was positive Cas knew and he wasn't telling him. And it made him furious.

_Castiel leapt forwards, closing the short distance, wrapping his arms tightly around Dean's neck as he kissed him frantically, pouring in everything he was feeling, his grace, his pain, his guilt, his desire, losing all touch with reality as he explored Dean's lips and Dean reciprocated eagerly, angrily pulling at Castiel's hair dragging him to the bed. _

_Finally Castiel was showing Dean what he'd been missing, what he'd needed and it was so disgustingly enthralling Dean was furious that Castiel had kept it from him for so long. Now he needed to make up for lost time._

_They both collapsed onto the bed, Dean showing his consistency as he yet again climbed over Castiel and kissed him wildly, sending Castiel's heart into a frenzy. Why and how could this ever be wrong?_

_Dean kissed down his chin and Castiel lifted it as Dean moved lower, giving him more room for exploration. Dean showed his appreciation as he dragged his teeth down the skin of Cas' neck drawing a long moan from Castiel. Castiel flipped them suddenly, unable to help himself as his instincts kicked in and his eyes lit up with grace, which he was somehow aware of. Instead of confusion or fear or anger, Dean smiled at him, as if he knew everything. That he was an angel, that he had grace, all of it. And he didn't mind, no, more than that, he liked it._

Castiel shocked out of his fantasy back into reality, Dean's eyes begging for something he knew he couldn't give. It's not real, Castiel reminded himself, he's just having withdrawal symptoms for the grace, like an addict on a come down, gasping for his next hit.

"Nothing, Dean." He croaked and Dean let out a shout of anger before turning back to Cas, a dangerous look in his eye.

"Right, if you're not going to tell me what happened, I'll have to do it on my own." He said, catching Castiel off guard.

"W-what're you talking about, Dean?" Castiel's eyes narrowed.

"The only way I've managed so far to remember stuff from last night is to hurt myself." He said simply and Castiel comprehended his train of thought just a second too late and couldn't stop Dean as he drew back his hand and slammed it into the hard, expensive metal wardrobe frame and cried out as even Castiel heard a sickening crack.

"Dean!" Castiel cried, a nightmarish scenario playing out in front of him. Dean's eyes zoned out for a few seconds before he snapped back into now and his eyes, alight with adrenaline, zoomed wildly to Cas.

"You said you were going to leave, last night, I mean, you were going to get shipped off somewhere!" Dean announced and Castiel panicked. How in Father's name had Dean managed to recover his memories through pain? He'd never heard of it before.

"I'll do it again, Cas!" Dean threatened, raising his other arm, feeling guilty even using such dirty tactics.

Castiel sank to the floor, a move that surprised Dean as he looked to his friend who was defeated on the ground. His anger dissipated immediately.

"Cas?" He probed gently and Castiel's eyes met his own in a painful moment of clarity and Dean joined him on the floor, they both remained silent and cross-legged as they let their bodily functions return to some form of stability. The minutes dragged on until neither had any idea how long they'd been sat opposite each other.

"There's things about me, Dean. Things you can't know because I just _can't_ tell you. But you have to understand, I want more than anything to tell you everything. Believe it or not this is all to keep you safe." Castiel said quietly. He expected Dean to explode, to talk about how that was utter crap and how it was lie after lie with him. He'd storm out, never want to see him again. And Castiel would let him, because that was the best thing to do, let Dean be safe, even if it meant he'd lose him. But Dean seemed to be determined to be as unpredictable as possible.

It's okay. I get it. I mean… Me too." Castiel lifted his eyes from the floor suddenly, realising he wasn't the only one carrying a burden, even though Dean's couldn't possibly be on the same scale, could it?

"I guess the only consolation I can give you is that if I could tell anyone, it'd be you, man. But I-"

"Can't." Castiel smiled understandingly and the boys sat together, feeling more connected than they had to anyone before, regardless of the fact they were both hiding things from each other, from the world.

"It might be an empty gesture, but, y'know you can tell me anything, Cas." Dean said, his words sincere but accompanied with the knowledge that if Cas' secret was anything like that of being a hunter of supernatural forces, he couldn't. Not that Cas' thing would have anything to do with that, right?

"I'm sorry, Dean."

"No chick flick moments, dude." Dean smirked and Castiel laughed.

"I'm glad we're friends, Dean." He said with a smile. Dean rolled his eyes even though his heart tripped over itself.

"Come on, we are in serious need of a burger." Castiel's eyes lit up as he grinned.

"I love burgers." He stated and Dean burst out laughing.

"No shit, come on, happy meal." And Dean helped Cas to his feet as the pair went downstairs. Letting themselves forget school and life and angels and hunters for a while. Just two friends, having a burger.

**A/N: Longest chapter ever to make up for the unforgivable absence. Needed some serious angst and build up for plot, hope it wasn't too much. Have finally laid the foundation for some Sabriel which is guaranteed next chapter by popular demand yay! Holiday next week so more updates hopefully! Please review it helps me so freaking much and is amazing to hear your thoughts and what you want to see in future chapters and stuff. Hope you enjoyed. Thanks for reading! Izzie.**


	7. Chapter 7 - Time To Wake Up

**A/N: So a lot of stuff has happened since my last chapter, my workload grew at my new job, I finally did my show, I had about fifty exams and managed to just about somehow to scrape myself by with about five hours sleep every night for three weeks, it's been crazy. HOWEVER, I'm back now! I want to get back to regular, weekly updates. This chapter has Sabriel as promised! I really hope you guys enjoy this chapter, let me know what you think in a review or what you'd like to see or anything like that. :)**

Sam glanced at his watch, still uncomfortably in place from last night and was disgruntled to see it wasn't even five o'clock. He'd barely slept with nerves about what happened with his idiot of a brother and Castiel. Now he felt relatively sure that at least some progress would be made he found himself more able to relax. His muscles seemed to release their wound up coils of stress and he sighed in exhaustion. He hadn't been this tired since his last debate marathon and hunt fiasco. Her snorted at his own thought, he wasn't your typical partying teen.

His eyelids drooped and his head sagged as he leaned over himself and his head nearly touched the books on his lap. The sofa was proving its worth as it seemed to radiate comfort. Sam could feel himself drifting and couldn't bring himself to set an alarm so he actually woke up for school. He barely registered the knock at the door and just before he properly fell asleep he called out croakily.

"It's open, Dean." And then he was out like a light.

Gabriel stood confused at the door for a second as to what he should do and then shrugged to himself and walked in. Looking around as he entered the hall his eyes widened at the Winchester place. It was shabby to say the least, not necessarily unclean or horrible, it was just all old and seemingly fraying around the edges. All the appliances in view were outdated and the stairs looked like a game of Russian roulette. He glanced around for Sam, dumping Dean's keys on a counter in the hallway. Daring a look in the kitchen he almost recoiled at the medieval looking oven and his heart ached for his state of the art cooking appliances. He laughed at himself as he realised what a diva he was.

"Hey, Sam, uh, it's me, Gabe, I mean, Gabriel.." He, for some reason, stuttered. He shook his head to clear it. When no one replied he frowned and took a chance, opening the door to what looked like a lounge. He realised he'd struck gold when he saw the TV but then did a double take at the sight in the centre of the room.

Sam was almost double over on the sofa, his hair touching the books on his lap, pen still in hand and he breathed calmly and gently, fast asleep. Gabriel rubbed the back of his neck. He hadn't counted on this. He'd planned to catch Sam off guard, and be all charming and cheeky, just as a joke, obviously.. But Sam fast asleep and looking freaking adorable was not something he'd factored into the equation. He groaned quietly to himself.

"Ah, jeez," Gabriel sighed, moving to go and sit next to Sam. Turning to the younger boy he was unsure how to proceed. _Just wake him up you sissy bitch_, a snappy, masculine voice chanted at him. _Shit, he's pretty cute_, another, quieter, more realistic voice echoed and Gabriel rolled his eyes and shelved his pride. He gently put a hand to Sam's shoulder and pushed carefully, leaning him back into place so he could lean against the couch and not kill his back. His face could now be really seen and Gabe gulped and looked away.

There was another, panicked voice in the back of his mind who recognised what Gabe was feeling and red lights were flashing as it tried to break through and shout '_ABORT ABORT DANGER_'. However it was ignored as Gabriel simply leaned back next to Sam and let out a shaky breath. This was seriously unlike him, he'd been kind of the same when they'd had a couple of movie nights a while back with Dean and Cas. It was just plain weird.

Sam was cool but geeky and funny but totally lame and he'd never been more interested in a person before. And he didn't just mean interested like he thought he was attractive, but everything Sam did seemed interesting when Sam talked about it. Jeez, he made biochemistry equations sound interesting. But maybe it was just how Sam was. He was so passionate about everything, his eyes lit up when he spoke about things and he'd wave his arms and his eyes would phase out like he could literally see whatever it was he was talking about. It was enthralling to say the least. Not to mention a surprisingly pleasant and refreshing change from Gabriel's usual of people who were the same in that everything was old news, boring, nothing was worth any credit of interest.

After a while of just sitting there Sam turned slightly and his head seemed to just sink naturally onto Gabe's shoulder and Gabe squeezed his eyes shut. Well this might ruin my reputation a little bit, he thought to himself as he tried to distract himself from Sam. He focused intensely on the TV and attempted to fascinate himself with some writing on a picture hanging from the opposite wall. However it became impossible when Sam's hand unconsciously moved onto Gabe's leg and he let out a dignified 'argh!'. He couldn't take much more of this. He ever-so-gently lifted Sam's hand. He slowly began moving his arm but then everything happened at once.

Sam awoke like a soldier ready for battle, he switched on like freaking terminator. His hunter instincts kicked in and without pausing for even a second to look, he used Gabe's arm closest to his own, grabbed it, flipped them both anticlockwise. Gabriel was thrown, and I mean thrown, to the ground with a heavy thump and he groaned loudly as Sam straddled him, one hand pushing forcefully down on Gabe's chest, the other tight in his hair, painfully strong.

It took a second for Sam to register and his eyes widened in horror as he took in what was really happening.

"G-Gabe?" He said in shocked mortification as his stomach turned disgustingly.

"Hey there, Jackie Chan." Gabriel croaked, with a strained smirk, still winded. Sam's hand immediately loosened in Gabe's hair and his hand stopped putting pressure onto his chest.

"Crap, I'm so sorry, man." He said hurriedly as he scrambled off of Gabriel and then was all in his face again to survey the damage.

"Did you hit your head?" He asked, his voice filled with dread.

"I, uh, I can't... I, did you hit my head?" Adrenaline gone, the blood racing around his body slowed awkwardly and his head span as he tried to focus on Sam's face, or anything else. Sam made a panicked noise as he pulled Gabe to his feet, steadying him as he swayed.

"I am so sorry," He repeated sincerely and the look on his face only strengthened the words.

"Hey, it's okay, Sammy, I've known for ages you wanted to jump me, just didn't figure you'd be a top." Gabriel laughed weakly, not quite himself enough to give a wink as Sam sighed with a smile as he lowered him carefully back onto the couch. If he had the energy to make an innuendo, Sam figured he'd pull through.

"You're an idiot, sneaking up on me like that." Sam called over his shoulder as he went to get some ice. Gabriel snorted incredulously.

"I did not 'sneak up' on you, Sammy, you were asleep next to me for freaking half an hour before you went all 007 on my ass!" Gabriel retorted as Sam returned to the room, ice pack in hand, disapproving expression holding dominance over his features.

"It's just simple self-defence, Gabe," He brushed off easily and then carried on.

"Besides, what're you doing here anyway, not that I mind you being here," Gabriel raised an eyebrow suggestively and Sam turned red.

"I just mean, I don't think it's not okay, because it is okay, not because I, I mean, you know what I mean." He scrambled, silently begging for Gabe to stop him but Gabriel just sat there smugly, letting him squirm and turn more and more red.

"You're a jerk." Sam muttered and sighing, he sat down next to Gabe, placing the ice pack on the crown of Gabe's head. Gabriel let his eyes close and sighed in contentment at the unexpected pleasant feeling of the cool ice against his throbbing skull. Sam turned even more red as he stared, unable to look away at Gabe's rare expression of carefree calm. It was a first.

"Dean sent me." Gabe said finally.

"To give you a lift to school whilst he re-enacts every rom-com ever with Cassie." Gabe explained simply, eyes still closed as he leaned into the icepack Sam was holding for him.

"Oh, well, thanks." Sam stuttered, taken aback by the impromptu display of random decency from Gabriel. Gabe's eyes opened as he frowned, confused.

"Well, you know I'm not, right?" He said, as if it were blaringly obvious and Sam blanched and then coloured again at his own idiocy that Gabe would ever want to do anything for him. Get a grip he told himself. Gabriel seemed to notice his by his expression where his thought process was heading and he back pedalled immediately.

"I mean, I'm not taking you to school when you're barely able to stay conscious and when you are you're going terminator on any poor son of a bitch sitting too close." He said sternly, feeling something alike to his older brother instinct flare but slightly different, less familial protectiveness and more... territorial. Sam rolled his eyes.

"I'm fine, I was just a little tired, all I need is a coffee or something and I'll be back to normal-"

"Forget it, sasquatch," Gabe interrupted.

"You're going nowhere. Consider yourself under house arrest." Gabriel said casually and Sam raised his eyebrows.

"Seriously?"

"Oh yeah." Gabriel said with a sly smile.

"You do realise I could just flip you again?"

"And risk hurting my fragile, crippled self. Why, that would be like kicking a homeless person, or shooting a cat!" Gabriel announced and Sam snorted despite himself.

"Shooting a cat? Really? You couldn't think of anything better?"

"I'm improvising, sue me!" He replied with a grin that made Sam laugh and admit defeat.

"I know you're not letting me go to school or anything, but if we're off anyway, do you think maybe, I dunno we could maybe go somewhere?" Sam said absently. Gabriel's heart faltered slightly and his pulse tripped, however rather than admit to himself that he might be able to get somewhere real with Sam he laughed it off, like he did everything.

"Knew it, you're falling for me already, well get in line, Winchester, get in line." And he winked. Sam smiled but reddened as well.

"Shut up, I just meant my house is pretty boring, we should go do something before Dean skins us both alive." Sam said and the look of hope on his face was too much for Gabe to crush, it would be like kicking a puppy... Or shooting a cat. He sighed dramatically.

"Fine, where'd you have in mind, kiddo?" He said with a smile and Sam grinned, excited.

"I've got just the place!"

**A/N: Just a short-ish chapter as a kind of prelude to some other stuff. Any ideas of where they're going? What will happen? I take prompts and ideas so let me know your thoughts, the likelihood is they'll be included. More school antics next chapter hopefully. Should update soon! Please let me know what you think, feedback is so helpful! All the reviews for the last chapter were amazing so thank you, I love you all! Hope you enjoyed. Thanks for reading! Izzie.**


	8. Chapter 8 - Do This For Me

"Dean, you're actually on time again. Cas, you're a good influence!" Chuck laughed to the two boys walking down the corridor as he closed his locker. Castiel smiled sheepishly and Dean laughed.

"Yeah, you're right about that one. We have any homework?" Dean said as they walked to math class. Chuck sighed and Castiel shook his head with a smile.

"Yeah, Dean. That circle theorems project, remember?" Chuck prompted exasperatedly and Dean winced as he remembered.

"Shit, yeah. I'll get an extension, s'fine." He said with a debonair smile that made Castiel audibly sigh. Dean didn't notice but Chuck caught it just in time and threw Castiel a look but thankfully said nothing, much to Castiel's gratitude.

"How come you didn't bring Sam in today, he sick?"

"Nah, he's catching a lift." Dean said, avoiding any further explanation or questions.

"Woah, woah, woah, guys!" Dean stopped throwing his arms out to stop both Cas and Chuck in their tracks. Both looked irritated as they followed Dean's gaze. Down the corridor Bella and Balthazar were walking together and actually chatting and laughing together.

"Pinch me, I'm dreaming." Dean said as he stared. Castiel slapped him across the face and Chuck spluttered with laughter as Dean shoved his friend with a smirk.

"How long has Balthazar been interested in courting Bella?" Castiel asked curiously. Dean looked confused as Chuck snorted.

"Courted?"

"You know what I mean." Castiel reasoned and Chuck laughed lightly.

"Yeah, because I'm a writer. What are you from 15th century England or something?"

"Alright ladies, break it up. Cas, I think I get what you mean. Anyway, Balth's been pining for Bella since fifth grade or something, seriously forever. Poor guy." Chuck nodded in agreement and then gasped and pointed down the hall. They all looked and gasped in horror as they saw Becky approaching the pair looking eager with a camera in hand.

"Becky, no!" Chuck hissed, more to himself than anything.

"Oh shit." Dean brought his palm to his face.

"I can't even watch this."

Becky jumped in front of them and began filming them, getting in close ups and not letting them past. Bella appeared to near growl at Becky and storm past, leaving a confused Becky and a furious looking Balthazar in the corridor.

"I think we need to intervene before Balthazar commits a felany." Castiel urged as they all hurried towards them and Chuck dragged a more than happy to be dragged Becky away. As Dean attempted to console Bathazar, Castiel glanced at the notice board and saw something that intrigued him. He decided to tell Dean about it in class. As they all went into class they saw Ash getting grilled by Mr Masters as Jo sat next to him looking incredibly uncomfortable and scared she'd be next.

"Oh, jeez.." Dean muttered under his breath as they went inside as he remembered his last encounter with Mr Masters and knew he was beyond enemy lines in this classroom.

"Ah, gentlemen, how wonderful that the three musketeers decided to join us." He snapped fiercely and even Dean had the sense not to make a snarky comment if he valued his life and they filed into the back.

"I'll be excited to see your projects gentlemen seeing as I specifically said no extensions would be granted for this particular piece of work. Feel free to get the out and I'll inspect them shortly." Dean's heart turned to ice as he realised how screwed he was. His desperation quickly turned to resignation as he sat and waited for death. Castiel ground his teeth with disdain towards Mr Masters. He'd completed the work, of course, but that didnt mean he was going to sit there whilst Dean was given hell. He quickly set to altering his work.

Mr Masters marched down the rows and Dean stared straight at him, half expecting flames to appear from his throat as he did, not noticing Castiel shifting his work onto Dean's side of the desk. He'd written Dean's name, in roughly Dean's hand writing on the top of the paper. Luckily the rest he'd thought to have typed up so there was no toher evidence that Castiel had done the work.

"So Mr Winchester, I take it you haven't done the work." Mr Masters, or Satan himself, said with a grim pleasure in his tone.

"Well-" Dean started but Castiel cut him off.

"It's me that hasn't done the work, sir. Dean's completed his, see." Castiel pointed to the work and Dean frowned at the paper in front of him and his eyes widened as he realised what had happened. No way was Cas taking the fall for this one.

"What, no, I-" He began as he attempted to stand but Castiel grabbed his hand under the desk and it stunned him to silence and freefall.

"I'll accept the consequences." Castiel said solemnly and yet somehow still some defiance was alight in his eyes, the same eyes Dean couldn't help but stare at. Hand still wrapped around Dean's it tightened slightly as Mr Masters unleashed the fury he would've preferred to be upon Dean onto Castiel. The whole class only watched, as if awaiting the inevitable punch that Dean would deliver sooner or later. His friends all looked sympathetic as Castiel and Dean both tried to control themselves.

After what felt like hours Mr Masters finally relented and Castiel exhaled as he chewed upon his new found reputation in math class. Dean looked at his friend, feeling more than a little ashamed of himself. Castiel gave him a 'don't-mention-it' smile and let go of his hand and Dean mourned the loss of contact.

Adam leaned back casually in his chair and stretched his arms out, passing a piece of paper to Dean in the process. Dean opened it and found it was a note with various insults and imaginative ideas of punishments towards Mr Masters which made him smirk and also a master plan to have a massive party tonight as it was way overdue anyway and everyone needed one. Dean nudged Cas and passed him the note. As expected Castiel frowned and looked a little nervous. Dean decided to write a fresh note out just to Cas seeing as even whispering in the dead silence of the classroom would warrant a death sentence for them both.

**Come on, it'll be a laugh and take your mind off Michael and everything. How's he doing, by the way?**

_I don't know, I've never particularly liked parties. I'm not very good at them. He's getting better. My family went to see a specialist and we're hiring someone to look into the attack._

**Seriously, you need to just get completely drunk and let shit go. No one's at home to see you hungover so it's win win. Please go, it'll be shit if you don't.**

_I'll go, but I doubt I'm staying sober._

**You can try.**

Castiel looked over to Dean who threw him a wink and he rolled his eyes. Dean pulled out his phone and texted Sammy telling him he wouldn't be back until or maybe not at all tonight he didn't know yet. Little did he know, Sam was more pleased with this news than he would've ordinarily been as he was spending the day with Gabe, but more about that later.

Dean hadn't brought up Cas maybe having a girlfriend since they'd had the argument but that didn't quell the burning curiosity. He sent one last note.

**You could invite your girlfriend, we're probably going to have loads of random people there, Balthazar's place is huge and he knows shit tonnes of people so she won't be the only one there that no one knows.**

Castiel read the note and scowled at Dean, screwed up the note and continued with his work which confused Dean but he supposed he should give Cas some time. He forced down the turn in his stomach at the thought of Cas with his girlfriend.

After school they agreed to make their own way to balthazar's party, which had turned to the talk of the school by the end of the day, news travelled fast.

Dean arrived home and only had a few short hours to make himself look freaking hot. Not for anyone in particular... Just because that's what you do before a party with friends.. Right? He and dropped his bag at the door and climbed the stairs.

"Sammy, you back yet?" Dean called, not expecting a reply and not worrying when he didn't. Sam most likely had a geek meeting or something, Nerds R Us, and he knew Sam could catch a lift with Gabe seeing as he still had his car. He was going to have to walk to Balth's come to think of it. Fortunately it wasn't far from his own house and would only be a ten minute walk.

He basically threw his entire closet out onto his bed and tried everything on about three times. For some reason he was really eager to impress, or maybe he just needed to shake off the day but there was some sort of building pressure for tonight and he was especially nervous about seeing Cas but had decided he was going to be nice to his girlfriend and find a girl of his own to distract him for the night.

He at last decided on his best pair of ripped jeans, a dark t shirt and his black leather jacket that just seemed to make girls throw their clothes at him for some reason. He even combed through his hair, for what he believed to be the first time in his life, using a comb he found in Sam's stupidly tidy room which he had the decency to mess up a little, just because he was that kind of nice guy.

Pulling on his shoes he grabbed a spare key and put it into his back pocket and then he left, slightly jittery but excited and feeling good.

Castiel groaned and sank against his bed in despair and Anna poked her head in. She looked brighter, but still eager to distract herself from Michael and the others who'd gone to visit their Uncle. Castiel hadn't expected her to be here but found he didn't mind as he'd missed his sister in the time she'd been gone.

"Everything alright, Castiel?" She asked gently as she walked in.

"I can't find anything to wear to this stupid party and I don't even want to go but I promised Dean I would and I just," He sighed in frustration and Anna nodded understanding.

"Come on, little brother, let's get you suited and booted, dressed to impress-"

"Anna, please stop." She chuckled but obliged and set to work.

She found him a pair of unworn black skinny jeans which Castiel frowned at but she just told him to shut up and put them on. She threw him a deep blue t shirt and a casual yet dashing grey jacket and some black boots he didn't even know he owned, no doubt he subtle attempt to style him before. It was different to his normal style but he went along with it, recognising his sisters infamous sense of natural taste and style and trusting her judgement.

She then found some hair jel and he shifted nervously at the sight.

"Castiel, I'm only putting a little in, just to give it a little," She gestured an explosion with a grin and he sighed and allowed her to work her magic.

It was surprisingly quick and she simply seemed to run her hands through his hair a little and shake his hair about a little, surely he could've done that? He caught sight of himself in the mirror and his eyes widened at his own appearance. He looked... good. His hair was toussled to perfection, to Anna's credit. The boots seemed to pull the outfit together and he felt shockingly confident and comfortable in his new fashionable attire.

"Now," Anna said.

"Give me a smile." Castiel did as she asked and she squeaked slightly.

"How could they resist?"

"They?" Castiel asked.

"Come on, Castiel. There's got to be someone who's taken your fancy if you're trying this much to impress. You don't have to tell me but trust me, this is a great look for you, you won't even have to try." She grinned and Castiel blushed in return and she only squealed more.

Castiel arrived at the party first and quickly established that Dean hadn't arrived. His new image was highly appraised by his friends and he was uncomfortably aware of the attention he was attracting from various girls. Balthazar's house was practically a mansion and was the very epitomy of luxury. The whole thing screamed upper class and it seemed he must bathe in and eat money his family had so much to spare. it only did credit to his character that he wasn't utterly spoilt rotten. Sure, he had his arrogant side, but no more than Dean.

Dean.

Where was he? Before he had time to do another circuit of the rooms to try and find him he was approached by jo and he began chatting with her as she jumped and squealed and faffed over his new look and very much approved.

Dean, of course, had to arrive fashionably late. It hadn't actually been planned, he'd just taken longer than anticipated to get ready. As he walked in about six girls swooned. His hair was readily ruffled from the breeze outside and his face was just a tiny bit flushed from the slight cold in the best way imaginable. He smiled and waved towards Ash who seemed to be chatting up some blonde. He walked into the main party area and his breath caught in his throat at what he saw.

Castiel stood chatting with Jo and he looked literally mouth-watering. Whoever'd dressed him needed to be put behind bars because surely that wasn't legal. That couldn't be. It seemed almost unfair that he looked so good. His jeans and jacket seemed to show his slim form in a fantastic light and the blue of his shirt accentuated the blue of his eyes. But his hair, oh, his hair. It looked the spitting image of how Dean had always imagined it would look after his hands had raked and pulled through it and wow. Just wow.

He must really want to impress this girl.

Castiel caught sight of him and genuinely grinned at his friend. It was like a physical blow to the gut. Shit, Dean thought to himself. I'm really in trouble now.

**A/N: Party antics next chapter. ALSO - I might be starting a new fic. I had promised myself that I wouldn't have more than two fics on the go at one point but I've had inspiration and I'm pretty excited about it. Please review this chapter for what you'd like to see. I haven't forgotten about Sam and Gabe or about John, don't worry. Thank you for reviews and please continue to, it helps me out so, so much. Hope you enjoyed. Thanks for reading! Izzie.**


	9. Chapter 9 - Not The Plan

**A/N: Okay, I know it's been a while and I apologise for that but I've graduated now [cheers] and I'm on study leave which means apart from work I have buckets of time in which I can write for you wonderful people. I feel like I have way more inspiration now that school's depressing dream drainer has gone from my brain, forever. Look forward to regular updates again. This has some Sabriel, yay. It's also pretty long because I just got inspiration for Sam and Gabe's day out and didn't want to cut out the party either so yeah, you get both.**

Dean walked across the room to his beaming best friend, legs slightly shaky from something he couldn't quite place completely. Jo looked between the two boys and her stomach dropped a little as she saw a gleam in Dean's eye when he looked at Castiel that he never had when he looked at her. She shook that thought away and set about putting her plan into action, she hadn't put this much effort into looking good for nothing. Flipping her hair casually she nudged Dean when came he over, intercepting him on his path to talk to Cas.

"Hey! You look great!" She said with a flash of a smile.

"Yeah- thanks, uh, Cas, what, I mean," He cleared his throat, still not looking at Jo as he attempted to keep his eyes from raking appreciatively over the other boy, and failed judging from the blush that spread across his cheeks.

"You look, uh, different, mean." He managed and Castiel nodded, a shy smile on his lips.

"Dean, once everyone's gone we're gonna' play spin the bottle!" Jo squealed and Dean gulped slightly with a glance over to Cas, before putting on a casually annoyed face.

"Aw, come one, Jo, that game's stupid." Dean groaned.

"You love it!" Jo laughed hopefully and Castiel frowned, confused at the exchange.

"What's so fun about spinning the bottle?" Castiel asked, brow furrowed and Dean couldn't help but smirk.

"Nothing, Cas, it's as dumb as it sounds." Jo shoved him.

"Ignore him, Cas." She snorted and waved as Becky, Adam and Bella came over. Dean couldn't help but wonder when Cas' girlfriend would turn up and his stomach turned at his own thought.

"I need a drink," He sighed and walked away, leaving Castiel staring after, a little confused at his sudden turn in spirits.

"Hey guys," Adam said, unable to help the smile when Jo beamed at him.

"Hey, where's Dean going looking so sour?" Chuck asked with a chuckle and Jo snorted.

"He's gone to psych himself up for spin the bottle." She laughed and Becky shrieked."

"I hope I get Dean, that would be a crazy story to tell!" She yipped and Jo turned dark eyes onto.

"I don't understand, what's the object of the game?" Castiel asked in true curiosity, how could someone 'get' someone else with a bottle? He should've tried to catch up on party lingo beforehand.

"Is he for real?" Becky squawked, outraged. Chuck chuckled and Jo opted to, if a little cruelly, leave him in the dark.

"You'll see, Cas. Anyway, just remember to always obey the rules and play the game, otherwise there'll be a punishment and if you really want to be part of the gang then you have to play." She said seriously and Castiel nodded, unsure.

"I understand, only, you haven't told me the rules." He gulped. The other three wondered if perhaps it was a little mean but it would be amusing all the same, and hey, it was only a game.

XXXXXXX

Earlier, Sam had dragged Gabe off to God knows where, Sure, Gabe was a little wary but he trusted the kid and what the heck, no harm in going to some random place for a couple of hours and skipping school and getting killed by his older brother later, right?

"It's not just your secret lair or dungeon, is it?" Gabe joked and Sam snorted.

"Not quite,"

"Damn," Gabe muttered throwing a wink at which Sam laughed loudly. When they actually arrived, after severe lack of direction from Sam and reckless driving from Gabe it was nearly 11:30.

"Okay, so where are we?" Gabe asked, surveying his surroundings. There was a huge building surrounded by acres of greenland – it looked like a private estate almost. Sam looked slightly apprehensive as he got out of the car.

"It's a museum." He said hopefully, carefully assessing Gabe's reaction to check he didn't think he was a complete geek but this was Sam's all time favourite place and he'd only been here twice before. Gabriel, sensing Sam's nervousness simply nodded and began walking. Sure, he wasn't thrilled at the idea that it was some nerdy field trip but he didn't mind being around Sam and they might have a vending machine or a gift shop, win win.

Sam breathed out slightly, allowing himself to relax a little knowing Gabe most likely wasn't going to bolt but was still a little cautious that perhaps this wasn't Gabriel's scene. Nonetheless, he couldn't help but become excited when they got inside. Smelling the fragrance of antiquity Sam's smile began to grow immediately and damn if it wasn't contagious.

The place was huge, Gabriel had never been to this scale of museum, it was more like a giant house with the rooms converted to be little areas of knowledge behind each door they came across. Slowly Gabe began to see why Sam enjoyed it so much. It was endless and endlessly interesting too.

After investigating the Jurassic period, 16th century America and Tudor England in some depth through different doors it was now about quarter to one.

"Sam, I'm hungry," Gabriel whined, dragging his feet like a toddler in a shopping centre. Sam tore his eyes from a nearby sculpture and nodded with a natural smile.

"Come on, let's get some food from the café." He said with his smile still in place and Gabriel felt a stir in his gut and gulped slightly as he smiled in return. What was even going on? How had he managed to somehow get from giving Dean's nerdy brother a lift to school to a freaking lunch date in a museum with a cute junior. Wait, date? Who said it was a date? No one. It wasn't a date. It was just two guys, completely platonically, going to get something to eat, after spending the morning together, alone. Crap.

Sam was feeling a little dizzy. Gabriel was proving more than a little receptive to the random facts he spouted and the somewhat eccentric design of museum. It was a weekday so it was practically dead and they could walk leisurely for hours and almost never happen upon another party. It all seemed too coincidental. And why hadn't Gabe asked to leave yet? Sam couldn't help but be thankful, though he wasn't quite sure why. He'd never desired company before but this time was different, he was enjoying sharing this with Gabe which was rare as he'd never shared this place with anyone, frightened they'd ruin it for him.

Reaching the café t was a huge empty hall with a food court. Gabriel made a bee line for the trays and grabbed every different sweet thing he could see. Sam took a salad shake and a box of pasta with chicken and sweetcorn.

"What are you, a rabbit?" Gabriel said, slightly horrified at his choice of sustenance.

"No, I'm just not an aspiring diabetic." Sam retorted with a smirk and Gabe recoiled.

"Oh, snap girlfriend. Kitty got claws." He snapped his fingers with sass and then carried on collecting his junk food, smile irremovable from his features. Yet again. The cashier, a young, good looking, muscled teen, looked surprised when they got to the counter.

"Sam! You're back, I was wondering when you'd turn up," He grinned.

"Have you seen the new aquatic discovery display on the second floor?" He said with excitement and Sam sparked.

"What? No. I didn't know Jenny was planning on any new displays!"

"Yeah! I was gonna' ring you but I don't have your number, so you should-" Gabriel cleared his throat slightly, feeling like a third wheel and forcing himself not to stink eye the guy behind the counter, labelled 'Dick', appropriate name.

"Oh, sorry, Dick, this is Gabe my, uh, he's my friend." Sam stuttered slightly and Dick simply nodded distastefully and Gabe grinned at him.

"Well, come on, Sammy, let's not keep him from his work, sweetie." He laughed and linked arms with Sam, fluttering his eyelashes at Dick with a giggle and dragging Sam off skipping leaving Dick glaring after him. Sam looked at him, eyes incredulous but amused.

"Seriously? What?" Sam asked as they sat down, bemused. Gabe waved at Dick from their table and Dick seemed to storm of from behind the counter and Gabriel laughed wickedly.

"Oh, your boyfriend's jealous!" He cackled and Sam turned scarlet.

"What're you talking about?" He bluffed, forking a mouthful of pasta.

"Don't play dumb, gigantor, Dick wants him some Sammy sushi," He gave his trademark wink with a mouthful of muffin.

"You seemed pretty quick to cut him off." Sam said, feigning nonchalance but secretly revelling in his revenge when Gabriel spluttered on his muffin.

"I was, er, I was like, protecting your virtue. You're welcome!" He snapped, filling his mouth with a huge spoonful of particularly sticky, sticky toffee pudding which he instantly regretted, but alas, his fate was sealed.

"Right, so if I just, for example, came onto you, right now, you'd completely push me away because you care that much about my 'virtue'?" Sam said experimentally, gauging Gabe's response and had a celebratory salad shake slurp at the choking he prompted.

Gabriel attempted to object but sticky toffee pudding was literally lining his throat as he choked on his pudding and his words. He could feel his cheeks gaining a few shades of rouge but come one, Sam had just completely fried his brain. This kid was unbelievable.

"You okay there?" Sam asked innocently and Gabriel turned narrowed eyes onto him as he chugged coca cola and finally managed to unclog the pudding from his throat.

"That pudding is dangerous." He said quietly, avoiding Sam's gaze slightly, still feeling heated. What was he trying to do to him? After they'd finished Sam had to forcibly drag Gabe to the new aquatic display which he criticised mercilessly and it had absolutely nothing to do with that Dick suggesting it. Nope. Absolutely not.

They then ventured higher and explored rooms dedicated to outer space and interplanetary communication and then further to rooms filled with endangered plants and fossilised animals. They looked through the staggering information on the World Wars, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Hitler, they saw the origin of the noodle and watched slideshows on the intuitiveness of dolphins. It was exhausting and fascinating and Gabriel couldn't help but admit he was actually having fun.

Every new door was something new that Sam's eyes would grow wide and his smile would grow even bigger. Every time he found something exciting or shocking or interesting he'd grab Gabe's arm or even one time his hand and pull him over to make him see it too and it was impossible not to reciprocate his enthusiasm. It was just so infectious. Every so often in the occasional glint in Sam's eye when he looked at him, or when he took Gabe's hand to show him something, he felt a little spark of electricity and gulped down as he felt the rumble of his powers stirring and it was a completely new experience, no one had ever provoked such a strong reaction from Gabe before and he was beginning to understand Castiel's dilemma.

Sam was having an amazing day. He loved being able to share his excitement and intrigue with Gabriel and having someone there to make jokes and question and spin things and put angles on things that he would've never thought of before.

The end of the day came all too soon and after thoroughly ransacking the gift shop they each presented things to each other. Gabriel gave (his hilariously thought out) moose carving key ring to Sam who wins every award for best bitchface. Sam gave Gabe a key ring which was in the shape of an ice cream and you could pull the top off and inside was a tiny amount of sparkly lip gloss and Gabriel laughed harder than he had in a long time.

Getting in the car they were still chatting and laughing and joking and they only actually left the car park at 10:30 much to Gabe's surprise.

"I had a great day, Gabe, seriously. Thanks." Sam said sleepily and Gabriel felt a surge of sparks reach his fingertips as they itched to close the gap to Sam's and he desperately tried to keep them under control.

"Uh, yeah, uh, sure thing, kiddo." He smiled nervously. Luckily Sam had fallen asleep and didn't see his discomfort. Gabriel let his head fall back onto the head rest as he wondered when he'd gotten in so deep.

XXXXXXX

They all sat crowded in Balthazar's wine cellar and most of the group were feeling tipsy. Giggles and uninhibited hands and loud whispers before Balthazar adjourned the company.

"Okay, guys, let's get this party started." He laughed with an empty bottle in one hand and a half empty one in the other. Dean, surprisingly had remained pretty painfully sober, with just a touch of alcohol, taking the edge off slightly. Castiel, of course, had remained totally sober, despite people's best efforts.

"Cas, where's your girl?" Dean asked, blasé and Castiel glanced at him from his left.

"Dean, she, uh-" But Castiel didn't get a chance to put things straight before Balthazar was cheering and spinning the bottle. The first unlucky candidate was a nervous looking Chuck who rolled his eyes and watched the dreaded bottle spin, praying that it wouldn't land on Becky because he didn't think he could handle it, not after last time. The bottle came to a stop on Bella who hooted with laughter.

"Come on, honey." She said laughingly and Chuck smiled as he put a palm to his face and trudged off with her to the tiny well placed closet in the cold corner of the room, which was locked behind them for five minutes whilst the group laughed and joked before letting them out, Chuck with a huge grin on his face and lipstick also on most of it and Bella snickering. Balthazar looked a little less cheery on the next spin.

The bottle slowed and came dangerously close to Cas, but eventually slid onto Ash who gave a bountiful 'booyah' and fist pump before eagerly awaiting to see who his pair would be. He was, naturally, utterly drunk. Everyone watched half-excited, half-paranoid as the bottle span impossibly fast and landed on Becky. Everyone laughed hysterically as they stumbled off to the closet, looking far too drunk to be wise and spent their five minutes before emerging, Becky's shirt ruffled and Ash's eyes blood shot as he looked shell-shocked. Castiel gulped. Did they have to fight each other in that closet?

"Dean, what do we have to do in the closet?" Castiel asked, his voice tremoring slightly as he recalled Jo's words of warning.

"We have to- I mean, you have to, uh, you like…" Dean rubbed the back of his neck and was happily distracted by a cheer from Jo as it landed on her. She grinned at him and he smiled half heartedly in return. Balthazar span the bottle again and, much to Dean's dismay, and Jo's delight, it landed on him. He grimaced as everyone roared with laughter.

"Yeah, yeah, come one, guys. Jo's like my sister, don't be gross. Spin it again, Balth." He said easily, unaware of Jo's heart quietly cracking next to him. Nor was anyone else as Balthazar laughed and span it again and it landed on Adam who sighed.

"Jo, you don't have to-" Adam started but Jo didn't think she could handle facing them for another minute.

"It's fine, come on." She snapped and dragged him to the closet, ignoring the cat calls and wolf whistles as she did so. When she got inside she shifted awkwardly, hearing the door lock. She turned her eyes shamefully to the floor.

"Sorry, Adam, I can't-" Adam cut her off with a smile.

"Jo, I get it. I don't expect you to." And he sat down. She slid down next to him and she huffed out a shaky breath.

"I feel like an idiot." She said, her voice quivering as she bit down on her lip.

"Why?" Adam asked.

"I knew I'd be wasting my time but, but I had to give it one more shot and get shot down again." She huffed out, pulling herself together.

"At least now I know I'm officially okay to move on. Shouldn't have made such an effort for nothing." She laughed sadly.

"I think you look really pretty." Adam said, his voice steady as he tried not to over play things. She laughed.

"What, even in a dark creepy cellar closet thing which you were forced to be in and my hair looks crap and I didn't even-" Adam cut her off putting a hand to her chin and pulling her lips to met his ever so gently and sweetly for a second or two before swiftly pulling away and clearing his throat.

"Yeah." He said to his hands, clasped on his knees. Jo stared for a second before leaning into Adam and kissing him soundly, taking him by surprise. They came back to the group, hand in hand, much to the squealing of the girls and the winks from the guys.

Balthazar got back to work and span the bottle landing yet again on Jo who laughed and hid her face behind her hands as she glanced at a smiling Adam. Spinning the bottle again everyone erupted in sound as it landed on Bella who giggled madly, winking at Jo who laughed crazily.

"Seriously?" Jo said and everyone suddenly became nodding dogs. Ash appeared to be drooling as he stared after them.

"Dean, what are they doing in there, is it some form of ritual?"

"Cas, will you chill out." Dean said with another sip of beer as he watched Jo and Bella go, hearing their promise that they wouldn't chicken out and, knowing Bella, they wouldn't. By this time everyone was drunk, everyone except Dean and Castiel who remained unaffected as Ash passed out, Chuck took off his shirt and Adam began trimming Balthazar's hair.

When the girls emerged Jo was bright red and Bella slapped her behind cheekily and she gasped with a laugh and everyone was in fits.

"Okay," Balthazar slurred.

"Last one before we go upstairs." He said. Dean prayed, please, please, just let him be spared this one time. The bottle span, pointing it's ugly head at each person in turn before landing on Castiel who paled. Everyone stared, buzzing with excitement as they watched to see who would get to taint Cas' innocence and everyone was convinced it must've been rigged when it slowed and stopped on Dean who gawped.

"Aw, come on, seriously?" He shouted over the hysterics and they were pushed, shoved and dragged into the closet before being locked in.

"We're not letting you out until you've done it, and I'll know if you haven't because Castiel can't lie to save his life!" Jo squealed, cackling away. Dean rubbed a hand over his face, this was ridiculous.

After convincing a utterly confused Castiel to try and lie and say he'd done 'it' the group asked him what exactly he'd done which, of course he couldn't answer and Jo's dreaded punishment came about. They were shoved back into the cold closet, the door was locked and the group dispersed upstairs.

"See you in the morning, lover boys," Was all they heard before the door slammed shut and Dean kicked the door in annoyance at his drunken douchebags of friends. This was like an awful teen movie, a cringey one. There was no light in the closet and so it took a while for Dean's eyes to adjust as he saw his friend standing uncomfortably in the dark.

"Dean, Jo said I wouldn't truly become part of the group until I had completed whatever it is we are required to do." Dean rolled his eyes.

"That's a load of crap, Cas."

"No, Dean, I'm serious, everyone else did it, I don't want to be the odd one out. Please could you show me what to do, it can't be that horrible can it?" He asked, nerves plain in his voice and Dean's cracked as he replied.

"No, it's not that…"

"Please, Dean," Castiel practically begged, his eyes penetrating the darkness and Dean gulped. Why did he have to say it like that?

"You really want to?" He asked, not quite believing his own words as he saw Castiel nod frantically.

"Fine. Close your eyes, Cas." He said, his voice waning under the strain of pressure he was putting on it. He saw Cas' frown.

"Why?"

"Just, just trust me, okay?" Castiel said no more and closed them instantly.

**A/N: Hope this chapter was okay, it was way longer than I originally planned it I just got this idea of Sam's favourite place in my head and I wanted o do it justice and everything. I will be updating normally again! Please review, I read them all and they help me so much! Please let me know what you thought, what you'd like to see, etc. Hope you enjoyed. Thanks for reading! Izzie.**


	10. Chapter 10 - Familiar Power

**A/N: Okay so I've had about five exams in the last week and I really should be studying for the exam I have tomorrow but I couldn't stand to leave it any longer and I really need to know what's going to happen as much as you guys. I hope you enjoy this and thank you for all the amazing reviews and favourites and follows they're truly inspiring. The song that inspired this whole chapter 'Transatlanticism- Death Cab for Cutie', seriously, listen.**

Dean's hands shook as he wondered what to do with them, staring at his nervous but determined friend who had his eyes shut tightly as instructed. His mind was racing. This was the most impossibly ridiculous situation he could've pondered getting himself into. Castiel interrupted his panicked thoughts.

"Does.. Does it usually take a while, Dean?" He asked tentatively and Dean rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, Cas, it usually takes ages just, er, hang tight." He shook his head and silently reprimanded him for sounding like an idiot but Castiel was remarkably patient and nodded, standing still, eyes remaining closed.

Dean was now really at a loss. He _really_ wanted to kiss Cas. It was embarrassingly obvious to himself now. He only hoped it was still completely opaque to Castiel. He moved slightly closer to his friend, his breathing erratic, his mouth dry. He fought with his limbs and better judgement as he edged nearer to the other teen, who waited without question, looking far too inviting to resist. He lifted a hand and then thought better of it, stopping himself at the last moment. He was barely inches from Castiel's face now, itching to just bridge the painfully small distance. Castiel shivered, noticing Dean's breath on his lips and gulping down the whimper that wanted to erupt as he attempted to be logical. Why would anyone play a game where the object was to get locked in a closet so they could kiss, how ridiculous. No, it was most likely something much more realistic, or maybe violent.

"D-Dean, are you going to headbutt me?" He asked, sounding adorably concerned and Dean couldn't stop the bubble of nervous laughter that arose from him. He put a hand on Cas' shoulder.

"No I'm not gonna' headbutt you, relax, man." He said gently and saw the way Castiel visibly, if subconsciously, leaned into his touch with a deep exhale, as if it were his anchor. Dean simply couldn't help himself. He let his hand move from Cas' shoulder, tracing a path up to his neck and then to shadow his jaw and hook around his ear. He heard the hitch in Cas' breath and Dean knew he could feel their dangerous proximity.

He watched as his thumb swiped gently across Cas' cheek and Castiel reacted instantly, turning into it almost. Dean opened his hand slowly, cupping his cheek, watching in stunned awe as Cas sighed in something akin to relief at the touch. It was terrifying new territory and Dean was somehow entranced, unsure of what was really happening, but couldn't find the strength to question or put a stop to it.

He experimentally padded his thumb across Cas' lips, they felt soft, a little scratchy, but in a way that made Dean want to investigate which only proved to frighten him more. It was a hypnotising exchange on both parts.

Castiel was painfully ecstatic with the turn this task was taking, even if he was misreading it which, knowing him, he probably was. Reading social signals wrong. He could feel Dean's breath, the warmth of his palm against his jaw, his thumb gently trailing patterns on his lips. He daren't open his eyes, or move, or even breathe for fear of ruining the moment. Finally he couldn't stop himself, he pushed his lips slightly back against Dean's thumb and heard the catch in Dean's breath and then he was gone. Reeling away like he'd been electrocuted.

Castiel cursed himself and tried desperately to calm down his heart as it raced wildly as if late for something and his pulse tripped and fell attempting to keep up. He remained still, his eyes closed. He tried to hear where Dean was in the dark room but Dean gave away no clues. He knew whatever they were required to do, it hadn't been done, and somehow now, he was eager to finish the job.

"Please, Dean, _please_," He pleaded and Dean bit down on his lip and pulled and ripped at his own hair as he span away from the boy, desperately trying to keep his head. Turning back he just looked at Castiel. Really looked.

This boy was just standing, completely vulnerable, waiting, entrusting in the centre of a dark, cold, oversized cellar closet. He was just so damn easy to want.

Without consciously making the decision to, his feet carried him back over to Castiel. He sucked in a huge breath.

Castiel was in a state of real panic now. He'd crossed some sort of line, some social barrier. He'd misinterpreted what was strictly appropriate and now he was worried he'd angered or disgusted Dean. Or worse, what if he was stood there in silent hysterics, laughing at his idiocy. What if Dean wanted nothing to do with him?

That was when Dean pressed his lips to Castiel's. It was light, gentle, apprehensive, but sweet. Castiel's mind went utterly blank as Dean pulled his lips away after merely a moment. He knew better than to make any rash movement that might spook Dean but was also tempted to jump up and down cheering or dance or just completely tackle Dean to the ground. He really needed to work on his self-control. His power flared up into his lungs and chest as he breathed in a blissful feeling.

Dean was stunned at his own audacity, but more so at the lack of objection from Castiel. He hadn't shoved him away, or been revolted he'd just… stayed. Waiting for Dean to decide what he was going to do next. That was all it took.

He moved forward again and, bringing a hand to pull up Cas' chin, pulled their lips together. This time with more purpose. He meant what he was doing. Cas didn't know what to do, what he was allowed to do, what he expected to do. This was all still part of the task, right?

Dean felt his unsure nature and worked to put him at ease, wrapping a hand slowly around his waist as the hand moved from his chin more insistently to the back of his neck, begging for some reciprocation, but it was all so slow as he moved his lips against Cas' in a way that made it clear he'd stop in a heartbeat if that's what Castiel wanted.

Cas needed no further invitation and pushed his lips back in time with Dean's perfectly, capturing a moment of true ecstasy from Dean. They stayed like that, Dean holding Castiel gently whilst Castiel was unable to do anything other than lose himself in the moment. Of course, had they been outside they might've noticed the lightning striking from the heavens as Castiel kept no check over his powers. One particular crash from outside got through to Dean as he snapped back to reality and realised he was kissing Cas. He was actually kissing Castiel. Properly. He was overjoyed, he never wanted to stop but then one thought made his stomach drop, his eyes open, and his body pull away, not harshly, but with resolve. Castiel moaned at the sudden loss of contact and Dean mourned the loss of his lips already.

But Castiel had a girlfriend. Cas was in a relationship. He was Dean's best friend.

_What the hell was he doing?_

Castiel finally opened his eyes, gazing at Dean, confusion mixed with hurt in his eyes. Dean was grinding his teeth as he pulled a hand over his face, as if trying to rid it of traces that Castiel had been there.

"Did I, Did I do something incorrectly, Dean?" Castiel asked, his voice thick with emotion. Dean looked to him incredulously and winced when he saw the pain of rejection painted onto Castiel's features.

"No! I just, I can't.. I can't do this, Cas," He tried. Castiel was baffled, he couldn't keep up.

"What can't you do?" He probed. Dean let out a groan.

"This, I can't-" He cut himself off with another groan at his own stupidity. What self-respecting hunter let himself get in too deep without noticing until it was too late.

"I thought this was part of the game, Dean.." Castiel half-lied. It was true, he did think it was part of the game, but he also hoped it was something more. Something real.

"It is. I just.. You have a girlfriend, Cas, I can't, it's…" Dean had suddenly lost the ability to form coherent sentences. Just babbles of apologies and misleading signs that he knew weren't fair to Cas. Castiel blanched when he understood. Dean thought he was being immoral by playing, he really needed to set the record straight.

"Dean, this was what I was trying to tell you about-"

"No, I know, I was a jerk about it, and I'm sorry, I'm an idiot-" Dean objected, not understanding Castiel's train of thought.

"Dean, please listen to me, it's not you it was me, I-" He stepped closer, desperate to explain.

"No, don't defend me, Cas. I was a grade A asshole and I know I just totally crossed a line by not asking if-"

"Dean, stop, you don't understand!" Castiel was getting increasingly frustrated and desperate to obtain Dean's attention as he moved directly in front of Dean, trying to get him to look him in the eye.

"No, I do, I get it, I'm a shitty person, I don't know what's going on with me I really-" Dean continued and with a growl of frustration Castiel pushed himself upwards capturing Dean's lips demandingly with his own. Dean let out a noise of surprise as he was caught off guard by an infuriatingly perfect distraction. Castiel kissed him furiously gripping his shirt in his fists and Dean was genuinely fighting to stop. He tore his lips away.

"Damn it, Cas-" He managed through gritted teeth.

"I don't have a girlfriend. Or boyfriend. Or any other form of romantic partner as of yet." Castiel snapped into his face.

"So stop being so blinded by your moral compass and… just kiss me again." He said with vigour and Dean could've choked on his own air. He stared down at Cas, brow furrowed for a moment.

"You.. You don't.."

"I do not."

"…But you said-"

"I lied."

"..But I thought-"

"Dean!"

Dean took his cue and slammed his lips into the delicious embrace of Castiel's. He wrapped one arm against his waist and his other hand pulled through his hair, writhing it this way and that. Castiel's insides were on fire as his heart ricocheted against his ribs painfully as he kept one fist in Dean's shirt and his other hand made its way to the back of Dean's neck, pulling him even more closely against Castiel shirt as they wildly craved the others touch more with each passing second.

Dean's arm pulled Cas' waist upwards and into him drawing a glorious moan from both boys as they kept as close as they could to each other. The whole thing was incredible and delectable and they could barely keep their hands from gripping and exploring wherever they could reach, both trying to solidify the other, make sure this was really happening.

They'd somehow moved and were tripping slightly as they went but neither could find the energy to care about anything other than the other. Castiel wasted Dean's name on his lips time and time again making Dean's chest pound as his heart thudded in his ear as he was pressed against a stone wall.

Castiel moved his lips from Dean's shattering his world slightly as he moved across his jaw and down his neck, not letting go for a moment. Dean let his head slam back against the wall and the contrast of the cold of the wall and the heat of Cas made some distant unclear memory spark in the back of his mind. He was staggered by the nauseating nostalgia from a memory that was hiding from him. His stomach turned as his head span.

"C-Cas," He breathed. Castiel immediately looked to him and near gasped at the look of fear on his face. It slowly gained more emotion as suspicion was added, which quickly morphed into confusion and then anger, all the while, the human base fear stayed dominant. He suddenly shoved Castiel away, who stumbled back. The memory was fleshing out the more he thought of it. His bedroom. Castiel. Wind. Leaving. Wall. Bed. Black.

"Why can I… Has this.. I remember.. This hasn't happened before, but, but it's, what's…" His breathing started to quicken as his hunter instincts kicked in that something here wasn't right.

"Why can I remember something that didn't happen?" At first he whispered it and Castiel's face paled in true horror as he saw what was happening.

"…You?" Dean saw as the look had dawned on Castiel's face. He knew.

"You did this?" He croaked. Castiel began to shake, his powers flaring like they'd never done before.

"D-Dean, I-"

"What did you do to me?" He demanded loudly. Castiel couldn't respond.

"What did you do to me!" He bellowed and thunder crackled outside from Castiel's fear as he jumped at Dean's shout.

"Dean, it's- I didn't.. I can explain," He whispered. Dean thought he was going to be sick as he finally recognised what'd been plaguing him for a while.

"W-What are you?" His voice shuddered as he stared straight into Castiel's eyes.

"I, I, I'm-" Castiel tried, did he try, but he couldn't. He lifted his hand into the air and lit up the room, the bright white light that erupted from him made Dean back up against the wall again.

"You're- you're an angel!" Dean whispered, heartbroken.

"You know what I am?" Castiel choked, tears falling fast now.

"I… _hunt_ you."

"You're a hunter," Castiel breathed, the light going out as it was his turn to back away.

"But you didn't hurt me." Castiel whined, terrified into the dark.

"I thought you.. I liked you! I thought we were friends." He sounded disgusted that he'd been so easily fooled.

"Dean, we are!"

"You kill people!" Dean yelled and Castiel felt sick.

"No," He said barely audibly. He'd never hurt anyone.

"You were just pretending to be my friend, to, to get close to me, because then you can get to my Dad!" It all made sense in an agonising way.

"No!" Castiel shouted. Dean stormed over to him, grabbing his shirt, raising his fist, ready to strike. It was stupid and uncalculated and in a hunter's eyes, suicide. But Castiel made no defence. He just remained limp, staring into Dean's eyes like he'd just tore down his entire world. He couldn't do it. He couldn't strike Cas. His Father wouldn't have hesitated a second but this wasn't just some angel, this was _Cas_. He let Castiel fall from his grip and moved away.

"Open that door." Dean snarled.

"Please, Dean-"

"I said open the door!" He raged and Castiel, with a flick of the wrist, opened the door.

"Come near me or my family again and I will kill you." He fumed and with that he left.

Castiel stared after him, feeling as if someone had plunged a ragged knife into his chest and twisted it around sadistically. He thought he was going to retch as he crumbled to the ground.

Dean was a hunter.

Dean hated him. He thought it was all a lie. How had any of this even happened? Choking on his own sobs he heard the storm outside and felt his own power and stretched. Not caring. He raised his head and let out an almighty shout that shook the floor and barrelled the winds and creaked the trees and fractured the windows and he was sure Dean would've felt it and known.

Dean just ran. Through the wind. Through the rain. The lightning. The thunder. The howls of nature. Only it wasn't, it was Castiel.

Don't you stop Winchester. **Don't you stop.**

**A/N: Wow so this chapter was so exciting for me to write because I just got this burst of inspiration and I actually have a plan of where I'm going to take this and I'm so looking forward to seeing how it pans out! Please let me know what you think, reviews are seriously so helpful and motivational and I love hearing what you guys thought of the chapter. Let me know if you want to see anything, what you think should or is going to happen, I love hearing theories. Hope you enjoyed. Thanks for reading! Izzie.**


	11. Chapter 11 -Noisy Silence Before A Storm

**A/N: Wow, I just want to thank you guys for the amazing response to the last chapter, I wasn't expecting that at all and it was really inspiring so thank you so much! I hope you all like this chapter and if you have time let me know what you think! I'm finding this fic so much fun to write and flesh out in front of me!**

At last, they arrived back at the Winchesters and Gabriel let out a breath of relief. Cutting off the engine Sam awoke at the loss of the familiar buzz of the Impala. He sat up, rubbing his eyes sleepily giving Gabriel a quick sheepish smile which somehow affected Gabe's ability to stand momentarily, to his confusion.

"Well, uh, end of the line, buddy," Gabriel smiled briefly, ready to ship out. However the younger boy shifted in his seat uncomfortably, biting his lip with a frown as he seemed to be fighting some internal turmoil.

"Sam?" Gabe prompted and Sam looked to him, seemingly gauging his temperament. When he still said nothing Gabriel began to feel uneasy.

"Yo, Earth to Samsquatch!" He chuckled nervously.

"Gabe, I need to tell you something, like, something big," Sam replied causing Gabriel's stomach to drop as he attempted to interpret Sam's train of thought, coming up blank.

"Er, sure, shoot, gigantor," He said as casually as he could. Sam took a deep breath, steeling himself with a nod.

"Okay, so I want to tell you because you're kinda one of the only people who I've ever felt guilty for not telling and I… I don't wanna lie to you." He glanced up, reading Gabriel's fixed poker face as best he could before taking his silence as a prompt to continue.

"So, well… This is gonna' sound crazy, I mean really crazy, like," He tried to think of how Dean would word it.

"Like, Dino-ate-my-baby crazy," He finished. Gabriel at least snorted at this and nodded, looking almost curious as he waited for the big reveal.

"So me and Dean and our Dad, we, uh," He raked another hand through his hair and began worrying his lip, all the while not taking his eyes from Gabriel.

"Come on, Sammy, what could be so bad? You gonna' tell me you're a serial killer?" He tried with an unhelpful laugh as all the colour drained from Sam's face.

"We hunt monsters. We find evil things, ghosts, werewolves, demons, find them and kill them to stop them from hurting anybody else and it's supposed to be this big secret and I really shouldn't have told you but I wanted to and you're the first person who I've actually needed to tell and I know you probably think I'm totally crazy but I'm not a murderer or anything," Sam babbled on, feeling more sick by the second as a horrified look crossed over Gabriel's face.

"Shit," He breathed as he fumbled for the door handle and nearly fell out of the car. Sam was on him in an instant, rounding the car in seconds, he was a hunter after all and stood in front of him, hands raised in surrender as Gabe's back was against the car.

Gabriel was having too many thoughts, feelings, fears, instincts, all fleeting and terrifying and dizzying as he tried to do something, anything. Sam was a killer? He couldn't believe it, the kid was all heart. Surely he wasn't a mindless murderer…

"How could you kill all those things?" He croaked out.

"I don't- I mean, wait, you don't think I'm insane?" Sam did a double take, eyes bugging as he stared at Gabriel with no such look of a hunter eyeing its prey such as Michael had described on countless occasions. He merely shook his head frantically. Sam suddenly seemed to take in that Gabriel must've had some encounter in the past and at least that was one hurdle jumped that he didn't have to tackle.

"It's not like I want to hunt, I _hate_ hunting. I mean, I get that innocent people need to be protected but, but I don't always see the evil in things the way my Dad seems to. He thinks different means evil but what if, what if sometimes they just wanted to be normal. I mean, angels, how could they be evil? Didn't they all once come from heaven or descend from there or something? I've never killed one either. I've never really killed anything, Dean or Dad always finished the kills, Dean made sure of that." Gabriel stared; the rain that had started pelting them went unnoticed by both parties. Sam had never killed anything, he believed angels could be good.

"So," He gulped to save his throat being ripped apart.

"So, you don't think angels are evil? You don't want to, like, murder them all in some evil vengeance thing?"

"No! I just, I don't see how could they all be bad? I mean, some people are killers, that doesn't make us all killers, right?" He looked to Gabriel and seemed to be legitimately asking the question. Gabriel sucked in a breath, bracing himself.

"I think I might be the wrong person to be asking." He managed before raising a hand, clicking his fingers and watching Sam's expression as the rain instantly turned to snow. Sam started so violently he tripped over backwards landing harshly on the ground but he didn't make any further move away, maybe frozen in fear.

"Sam, I'm not going to hurt you, I've never hurt anyone, shit, I barely get into real fights in school. I couldn't tell you because we have to hide what we are in case.." He trailed off and gave Sam a pained look.

"In case a hunter finds you." Sam finished quietly and Gabriel nodded, uncomfortably solemn for Sam.

"Why did you tell me if it could put you in danger?" Sam asked shakily, climbing to his feet, sounding almost annoyed at his friend's stupidity and his own heart clenched at the thought of any harm coming to him.

"I dunno', you told me, I guess." He grimaced at his own reasoning.

"You said you don't think all angels are evil, right? You sticking to that statement?" Gabriel questioned, frightened of the answer.

"Gabe, the only thing evil about you is your sense of humour, I don't believe you'd ever hurt anybody." Sam said, seeming almost confused as if it was obvious that he had faith in Gabe.

Gabriel shuddered out a breath of pure, unadulterated relief. However, all too soon it was tainted with something else. Sam had moved a little closer now that he'd felt the tension of the situation diffuse a little and was standing a couple of foot away but it felt much too far for some reason as Gabriel tried to word his question.

"Sam, do I," He cleared his throat.

"Are you scared of me?" He dreaded the answer but needed to know it. Sam stared some more and opened his mouth and closed it again, seemingly contemplating his answer. The more he thought the more unnerved he appeared. However, after a couple of minutes passed his expression cleared and he shook his head lightly in response to his friend's question.

"I… You're still just Gabe to me. I know what angels can do, believe me," His voice cracked and Gabriel's stomach dropped as he heard the unspoken words behind that sentence.

"But, I don't know, I trust you." Sam continued and Gabe couldn't help but grant a small smile at this statement.

"Dean's gonna' blow a fuse.." Sam muttered, more to himself.

"What? No, Sam, you can't tell your brother! He'd skin me alive, not to mention-"

"Cas," Sam finished, wide-eyed. He wasn't a fool, he'd seen the way his brother looked at Castiel in the passing weeks and had been overjoyed for him but now he could almost predict the emotional car crash. Sam and Gabriel exchanged one painful moment of mutual clarity before what felt like a minor earthquake threw them both from their feet. Gabriel jumped up at once as winds began to chase his hair and he looked around wildly, he knew his brother's cry in a heartbeat, a cry of pain. A flash of lightning sparked in the distance and Gabriel took off, sprinting down the road, his familial instincts taking president.

Sam blinked, head spinning. He looked up to see Gabriel racing away and clambered to his feet as he chased after him.

"Gabe, wait!" He tried to keep up but Gabriel was near flying with speed as he ran. They turned two blocks and then somehow were going down some trail and then straight into the thick wood that was near Dean's friend's house. Sam was finding it increasingly difficult to keep track of Gabriel as he tore through the woodland, dodging trees and jumping ditches and then he slammed into another form with a shout. Both were on their feet in seconds.

"Dean?" Sam said, stunned at the look on his brother's face.

"Sammy." Dean grabbed his brother's arm and tried to drag him along. Sam stuck his heels into the ground.

"Dean, what the hell's happening?"

"They're angels, Sammy. They're freaking angels." He spat as his eyes searched around him madly.

"I know, Dean. Gabe just told me, but they're not bad, they've never hurt anyone, they're innocent!" Sam instantly defended and Dean's eyes narrowed.

"Don't let him fill your head with crap, Sam. You're a hunter." He said sternly and Sam growled, snatching his arm away.

"No, Dean. I'm a hunter's kid. They're innocent, Dean. They've just been trying to live a normal life!"

"Sam, they're _angels_! They're monsters! They're exactly the same as the son of a bitch that killed Mom." He shouted and Sam matched his volume when he replied.

"Jesus, Dean, would you even listen to yourself! You_ know_ Cas. You honestly think he's ever hurt anyone, _killed_ anyone?" Dean faltered and Sam knew he had him, not missing a beat as he continued.

"He'd never hurt a fly! Plus he's completely crazy about you." Dean looked ready to interrupt but Sam stopped him.

"Don't, Dean. I'm not an idiot, a blind guy could see they way you two look at each other. Point is he'd never hurt you especially!"

"Sam, you can't logic this shit out, they're angels, they're programmed to kill!"

"That's bullshit, Dean, and you know it. I get it, okay, I do. An angel killed Mom. Believe me I hate that thing as much as you but that was one sick angel. These guys are different, you know they are. Think about it, how did you find out Cas was an angel?"

"I… I don't know, I guess he kind of told me."

"See, he at least wants you to know the truth about him! And did he try to hurt you, or even get angry when you found out?"

"…No, he, he looked… scared." The word sounded foreign to his own ears. Really thinking back his mind helpfully supplied him with Castiel's look of terror and the whine of fear in his tone when he'd spoken.

"Don't you think that means he's not some evil killer? Please, Dean, don't tell Dad." Dean looked back at his brother at this and gulped.

"I wasn't gonna' tell Dad. He'd-" His throat clenched.

"He'd kill them." Sam nodded, face flushed and relieved.

"Doesn't mean they aren't evil. Or maybe they aren't but… I just don't trust them, we need to get home, like right now."

XXXXXXX

Gabriel found his brother wandering, clearly having previously been crying, but now he was ripping trees from the ground or punching them with the force that made them snap and with every crack of wooden spines crying out, a crash of thunder and lightning spilled from the clouds in a dangerous pool of electricity.

"Castiel!" He shouted and Cas didn't turn to look at him, merely continued his assault on the woodland. Gabriel approached him warily, very aware of the power his brother possessed, much more than he did. He finally reached his brothers side and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Cassie, stop." He said quietly and his baby brother instantly crumpled into a defeated heap. Gabriel helped him up and immediately flew them home, not caring about the rules, they were broken enough tonight as it was.

When they arrived home and landed in the middle of the living room Anna screamed and rushed to them. Castiel seemed to be physically drained as he fell to the floor yet again like a discarded piece of paper. Gabriel was at a loss of what to do and felt his phone vibrate against his leg. Knowing it would be Sam he hurriedly got it out. A simple text put him at least a little more at ease.

_Dean won't tell anyone. Stay away._

"What happened, oh God, what happened?" Anna shrieked, trying desperately to bring some semblance of consciousness to Castiel, pushing her power down her fingertips and to his temples to no avail. Uriel, Lucifer and Raphael were downstairs in a split second, all shouting and raging as to what had happened and who was going to get ripped to shreds. The noise erupting within that room was enough to give Gabriel the beginnings of a migraine. Shouting and threats and demands and questions and Anna's sobs filled the room for what felt like a lifetime.

"Enough." The room seemed to darken as it fell silent, all but Anna's quiet sobs ceased as everyone turned to see Michael, holding himself up in the door frame but looking as intimidating as ever as he glared into the room.

"Calm yourselves, all of you. Leave us, _but you will not leave this house, _am I understood?" His voice was like steel as he dared anyone to object, his authority, though regularly challenged, was undeniable. Even Lucifer nodded in obedient silence. Everyone left the room, Gabriel last, sparing another look to his brother but walked out as well from a reassuring nod from Michael.

Anna stayed cradling her brother, crying softly. Michael slowly made his way to her side and she didn't take her eyes off of Castiel.

"Pl-Please, Michael. He's used to much power, tell me you can help him." She whispered, desperate and pleading as she wiped her thumb across Castiel's worryingly pale cheek as tears raced down her own, forgotten and unimportant. Michael took Castiel from her unwilling arms and lifted him carefully, placing him down on the sofa, frowning sadly down at his youngest brother. His eyes flashed with grace as he placed a kiss into his hair, allowing his own grace to flow into his brother.

Turning back to Anna he smiled calmly at her and she sank into his arms, clinging to him as she cried.

"He's so young, he's so young, I'm so scared, Michael," She kept choking on her own words and Michael just held his sister, allowing her to give way to her emotions, controlling her own flourishing grace where she couldn't.

"I know, Anna. He will repair himself, just as I am repairing myself, it will simply take time. He hasn't discovered his true power nor his ability to harness it. He overpowered himself, his internal system is just protecting itself. He'll be alright." He stressed the last sentence, lingering a little to make it perfectly clear to his distraught sister who seemed to calm down slightly.

Only a few hours later in the early hours of the morning, Castiel awoke to the eyes of his eldest brother and he shrank into himself a little. His head hurt to no end and he felt instantly sick as all thoughts returned to him.

"Michael, I-"

"You told Dean."

"..Yes. I'm sorry, I just-"

"It was incredibly dangerous, Castiel. They're hunters." Michael said darkly and Castiel shrank further into sofa before looking up in confusion.

"You knew?" Michael looked as if this information was nothing surprising.

"Of course. They are the same hunters who attacked me when I was weeping, Dean gave me this wound." He said gesturing to himself and Castiel's eyes bugged as they filled with tears and his tongue stung with betrayal.

"Dean did that?" He whispered and Michael nodded, calm as ever.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Castiel said, anger now bubbling within him. Michael sensed it and frowned at his brother.

"Castiel, Dean was protecting his brother, I struck him in a panic. Would you not do the same for one of your brothers?" He said logically and Castiel stopped short before nodding thoughtfully.

"I do not believe Dean Winchester is a killer. His Father is blinded with grief and has dragged his son into his warped turmoil but those boys are not bad people."

"But you've always said-"

"Traditional hunters don't let their prey get away, not for anything. However, thankfully, here you are and for that I will always be grateful to Dean Winchester." Castiel thought back to Dean's look of torn agony when he'd been about to punch him, no doubt ready to rip him apart, but Michael was right, Dean had let him go when he could've killed him. Castiel would've never put up a fight.

"Gabriel has assured me that neither one of them have any intention to reveal our secret to their Father, a courageous thing to do, but you must also not go near them anymore. I've said the same to Gabriel. You're both to stay away, regardless of how you feel." He fixed Castiel with a knowing look and Castiel bit his cheek, willing himself not to cry, for different reasons this time. Michael's expression seemed to turn weary as he ran a hand through his brother's hair, his face adorned with a sad smile.

"Unfortunately your actions have repercussions. People aren't oblivious to the crazed weather and freak lightning storms and blizzards. Uncle Zachariah is on his way for… damage control. You and Gabriel are henceforth to be homeschooled by him and he's going to teach you the importance of keeping your powers in check as it appears I am incapable of doing so." The last sentence rang of disappointment in himself as Michael thought to all he could've done to be a better brother and Father figure.

Castiel filled to the brim with guilt as his brother looked crestfallen, he was also terrified of what his Uncle Zachariah could have in store for him. He couldn't go back to school, Dean, his other friends. His new life was shattered and it was undeniably his fault.

"I'm sorry, Michael." He said sincerely, devastated. Michael nodded.

"I know. I am sorry, Castiel." He looked properly at his brother and Castiel could tell he was referring to Dean. He dropped his eyes to the floor and got to his feet.

"Go and get some sleep, your Uncle will be here by morning and you'll need to be alert." Michael advised, leaving the room with a limp.

Castiel sank down onto his bed, dreading the morning, dreading everything, unable to sleep, unable to stop his thoughts, unable to rid himself of the memory of Dean's face contorted into betrayal and pain. He gathered himself to make one more, probably foolish, decision and took his phone out. Scrolling down to Dean's number he sent him one text message. He neither expected nor received any reply but felt it important to let Dean know he was still the same person. To let him know what was most important. Maybe one day Dean might see that.

XXXXXXX

Dean lay on his bed in torment, his mind ached from being ransacked over and over. Everything was foggy and unclear but the only thing that was clear was Castiel's eyes, wide and familiar and innocent as Dean had raised a hand to him. He stared at his phone, his eyes strangled from having no relief of blinking.

_I'm still just your Cas. Forgive me. _

**A/N: I'm sorry about the waiting between chapters for this and other fics but a lot has been going on, I had to quit my job after a sexual assault issue, my sister is in hospital and I had my sixth form induction day. I'm trying my best not to neglect anything and hope to update again soon! Please let me know what you thought, what you liked/disliked/would like to see. Ideas are always welcome and I love to hear from you guys. Thank you for all the follows and favourites, it's so exciting to have anyone interested in my writing! Hope you enjoyed. Thanks for reading!**


	12. Chapter 12 - Burns

**A/N: Okay, so I've got a genuine plot, as in chapter to chapter, plot planned out and it's got me really excited and I wonder if any of you guys can guess what I'm going to do. I hope you like this and I hope you stick around to watch this plot unfold with me!**

Dean waited. Going to school felt so obsolete after everything and yet he here was. A week had gone by and still no Cas. No angel. Where the hell was he? God, he wanted to not care. He wanted so badly not to give a damn but he did and that stung more than anything. He was worried out of his mind about what was going on. He was still angry, betrayed, confused, scared, but all of it was unimportant when he couldn't see Castiel standing, safe, in front of him. Friends or not.

They'd tried everything. Despite everything, Dean had roped in everyone for the man hunt, refusing to answer any of their questions as to what had happened. They'd searched the whole school every day, they'd called, texted, Jo had even gone over to his house after vigorous nagging from Dean but no one would answer the door. Every time Dean went on his way to work at the library he always considered stopping by. He never did. He was getting desperate by now and soon it was going to get to be too much. Sam was much the same.

Sam, being the more sensible of the two Winchester brothers, had been very open with Dean about how he felt for Gabriel, even though he hadn't strictly had the conversation with him himself. He'd begged Dean to let him do something but knew as well as Dean that there was nothing they could do. The thing that was most sensible was just to stay away. Continue their lives as if the Novak's had never been involved in them.

XXXXXXX

After nearly a whole week of just being locked in their house, Michael telling them that their Uncle wished to give them a chance to prepare themselves before his arrival, at last the morning arrived.

Gabriel had come to his room and told him to get up, a solemn look gracing his features and it made Castiel's stomach turn. Their Uncle had arrived. He'd got ready in a rush and joined the rest of his siblings, bar Michael, downstairs. Raphael, Uriel and Lucifer were all stood in a line in the living room, posture perfect, staring straight ahead like soldiers. They'd spent more time with their Uncle Zachariah in the past and apparently knew how to please him, however Gabriel and Anna looked more apprehensive and both worried for their youngest brother.

Zachariah Milton was a particularly cruel person. He was an angel but his grace had a sickly presence as he entered the room, it seemed to ooze out of him, as if wishing to taint the other angels in the room. It made Castiel's stomach churn grotesquely.

He was a slightly portly, bald fellow with cold eyes and a predatory smile. His whole demeanour repelled those around him but the Novak's stood strong.

"Nephews, and niece," He added to Anna who didn't respond, only her jaw tightened slightly.

"You all know why I'm here. Discipline. It's not something that you can simply learn or be born with it is something that must be beaten into your very grain." His voice was detached and malicious and the temperature of the room dropped slightly.

"Where is Michael?" Anna asked quietly and Castiel's heart clenched as Zachariah's eagle like eyes eyed her unpleasantly and he approached her.

"Dear, dear. A prime example. Such a pretty girl," Zachariah thread his fingers through strands of her hair as he spoke and Anna stiffened but stood her ground.

"Such a shame you don't understand that you speak when spoken to." He snapped, gripping her hair and using it to propel her to the ground harshly. She cried out but refused to cry, simply glared at him defiantly.

"Hey, leave her alone!" Castiel said angrily, going to help his sister to her feet.

"No, Castiel," She warned desperately but it was too late and he was struck across the face, flinging him across the room and slamming into a wall.

"Hey, stop it, they didn't do anything wrong!" Gabriel snapped, furious that none of his other brothers made a move to intervene, too obedient. Zachariah sighed and kicked him roughly in the gut, drawing a pained cry from Gabriel as he sank to the floor, clutching his abdomen.

"Well, I can see you three are the root of the problem. No respect for authority. No self control." He reiterated himself as he spoke, twisting his wrist, causing the three of them burning pains in their grace, causing them to writhe in pain, their grace blistering in protest, but there was no escape until Zachariah relented at last and sent them away with a promise that every day he'd review their progress and they'd be rewarded or punished whenever he saw fit." And with that he disappeared.

At that moment it was clear they were a split family, the elder boys stalked away from their fallen siblings and the other three knew they'd lost them to their mind warping Uncle.

The instant it was clear that no one else was around, seeing as Zachariah took to flying off for hours, sometimes days on end but would lock the house and forbid them to go out whilst he did so, Anna climbed to her feet and whisked her brothers into her arms.

"Anna, where is Michael?" Castiel asked worriedly, ignoring the stabbing pain coming from his back and the left side of his face as the two boys pulled back.

"We gotta' tell him about this, there's no way he'd let him do this." Gabriel said hurriedly, thinking it out to himself. Anna sighed sadly, but then steeled herself and looked to them sternly.

"I don't know where Michael is and I know he didn't want this but I have a feeling he had little choice in the matter."

"Will he be okay?" Castiel's eyes widened and Anna promptly ignored this question.

"Listen to me, both of you, you mustn't rile your Uncle. I need you to be obedient, no matter what methods he uses to try and provoke you. He will do anything to try to get you to lose control but I need you to stay strong and silent. Keep your will strong but keep your sense, I can't have you two getting hurt. Leave Zachariah to me, I can keep him distracted." She said with an uncharacteristic darkness in her voice and both boys made noises of disagreement but she hushed them.

"Enough both of you. You're not children, this is reality and I need to protect you and that's the end of it. Don't worry, he won't break me, I'm ridiculously stubborn," She said with a small smile and the boys were both pained to have to let their sister get hurt.

"He's going to hurt you, isn't he?" Castiel gulped and Gabriel shot a sad look at him before looking back to see his sister's reaction. She looked to the ground for a split second before throwing on another smile, but her eyes had a fire in them that gave both boys hope.

"I'm a big girl, I can handle it. Just concentrate on keeping under your Uncle's radar. I'm going to try and get you back in school or at least back in the world and you need to be very careful about what you say and who you talk to from now on, alright?" Both boys nodded and she pulled them close again, taking a deep breath.

"You're both going to be just fine. Now, your Uncle won't be back until tomorrow afternoon and I believe he's taken our other brothers with him until about 5pm tomorrow, I suggest you use this time productively.." She trailed off pointedly and they nodded.

All doors and windows on the ground floor were locked and their Uncle knew that it was too high to jump from the second floor and so hadn't bothered locking those. Gabriel looked to Castiel and they both knew it was time to take advantage of Castiel's tree top window.

XXXXXXX

Sam sat in calculus feeling extremely ill. His head was spinning, his stomach was folding in on itself, threatening to spew over at any moment, his hands were shaking and his vision was blurry as he attempted to focus on the equations in his text book. It was made worse by the fact that Amy was sat next to him, probing him, asking him every two seconds if he was alright and asking everyone how he looked, relaying to him that the general consensus of the class was that he looked awful, which, naturally, did wonders to make him feel better.

He knew she was only worried but he just wanted to go to sleep, to get a break from his body's assault. It also wasn't exactly ideal that he wished Gabriel was there to make a joke to distract him or something. No, that definitely didn't help. Dean might be stubborn enough not to let himself admit that he needed Cas but Sam was different.

Eventually even the teacher couldn't ignore his overall unwell appearance and gave him a note which he took to the nurse. The school nurse wasn't one of those happy-to-help, rosy-cheeked women with lollypops and stories of her grandchildren. No, she was an ill-tempered, angry woman who despised the school and everyone in it. He name was Edith and she seemed to enjoy making children suffer and was the human personification of a bull.

She would've liked to send him back to his lesson but with a note from his teacher and the fact he was about to puke on her carpet she told him he was free to go home. She didn't bother ringing parents and, not wanting to give Dean an excuse to skip out on school, Sam forced himself to walk home rather than get a lift. A courageous decision considering his condition.

When he did get home he felt even more terrible and would've just gone to bed but, like he always did when he was ill, he was craving some of his Mother's recipe soup that Dean would always make for him. He wasn't exactly sure on how to make it and simply got out a paper sachet packet and blindly threw the contents into the pan, leaving the sachet dangerously close to the hob as he sparked it up and walked away to let it cook.

Slumping down on the sofa his head drooped immediately as he fought to keep his consciousness, but with his fever it was remarkable he'd even made it this far and he fell into a heavy sleep instantly.

XXXXXXX

"I hate everything about this." Castiel said yet again and Gabriel sighed as they walked, relieved to be free even just for a couple of days.

"I know, me too, but we're gonna' get out of this and in the mean time, I don't know about you, I'd kinda' like to stop by to see those Winchesters of ours." Gabriel said, encouraging a change of topic from their violent uncle.

"Dean is not mine." Castiel corrected with agitation and Gabriel smirked.

"Who said I was specifically talking about you and Dean, Cassy?" Gabriel said all too innocently with an eyebrow raised and Castiel squawked for a couple of seconds before huffing and admitting defeat.

"It doesn't make any difference, Gabriel. Dean hates me. For lying. For what I am. He said he'd kill me if he ever saw me again," He throat constricted and his voice waned under pressure and the smirk slipped away from Gabriel's face at his brother's distress.

"He was just freaked out, he'd never do that really, he cares about you, you know that," Gabriel reasoned and Castiel turned distraught eyes onto his brother.

"Do I? He's never said so."

"Did you?" Gabriel countered and again Castiel was stumped.

"Just stop over thinking it, you know as well as I do that we'll both go nuts if we don't sort this out. Just wait outside and let me go in first and see what happens, okay?" Castiel nodded in restrained agreement, he felt incredibly uncomfortable.

As they went to round the corner to the Winchester house a thought struck Castiel.

"Gabriel, what time is it? Will they even be back from school?"

"Uh.." Was all Gabriel managed before his eyes widened and his breath was taken from him. Flames were rippling out of two of the Winchester's windows, smoke clouding the surrounding area, thick and pulsing as it polluted their lungs and clung to their wings like a disease. Gabriel, more in tune with Sam's scent, caught it before Castiel did.

"Shit, Sam's in there!" He cried.

"Gabriel, I'll put out the fire, you get Sam out!" Castiel rushed, panicking as his eyes watered from the smoke. Gabriel nodded and they both disappeared, reappearing inside the flaming household.

Gabriel shouted Sam's name, searching upstairs in a mad panic before finding him unconscious on the sofa. Lifting him quickly to his feet, he flew the limp body away from the building and to a hospital.

Castiel had no such easy task. The flames were quickly engulfing the rest of the house and his grace was doing little to tame the raging inferno with his thoughts in such a panic. He suddenly felt a presence, much akin to Michael's, flood his grace, calming him and allowing him to think clearly.

He began to douse methodically and efficiently as he went from room to room. Fire was a natural repellent of an angel's grace as they had been burnt on pyres for hundreds of years and it was a reflex to shy away but Castiel was determined. After being endlessly singed and getting a large stinging burn down his forearm and a fiery graze on the side of his face, he finally put out the flames and sank to the ground, exhausted.

XXXXXXX

Dean sat restlessly in his math class, uneasy without his best friend sitting beside him. One of the ladies who worked in the school reception came in with a yellow slip, the kind that were given to students to tell them that they had a dentist appointment or their parents had given a reminder to pick their siblings up from school or something alike.

However, this lady looked flustered and distressed and glanced directly at Dean before handing the note to Mr Masters, sparing another sympathetic glance to Dean and leaving. Jo, Bella and Ash turned in their seats shooting him confused looks to which he shrugged in response. Mr Masters even looked slightly alarmed as he called Dean to the front and handed him the note.

He began to read it but as he read his senses seemed to dull in shock and he barely took any of it in, just enough to get the general idea.

Fire. Brother. Hospital.

He was flying out of the room in seconds. Not hearing anything other than his own heartbeat as he felt for his keys in his pocket and was climbing into the Impala within a minute and a half. Starting the car, his head was buzzing with questions. Was Sammy okay? How had the fire started? Why was he even at home? How'd he gotten home?

**_Was he okay?_**

He reached the hospital in just under twenty five minutes and tore down the corridors before asking a woman at reception. He got the room number and before she could object he was off again, breath ragged as he searched for the room. He found it quickly enough but a doctor stood in his way, a stern look on his face as he peered down at Dean who glared up at him.

"Young man, shouldn't you be in school?" He inquired suspiciously.

"My brother's in there. He was in a fire, I need to see if he's okay," Dean rushed out, trying to push past but being stopped again.

"You must be the older brother then. Yes, the other boy told us you'd be here."

"What other boy?"

"The one who got him here. Didn't say his name come to think of it, just told us to expect you." The doctor said thoughtfully and Dean growled, agitated at the room's human blockade.

"I need to get in there!" He snapped.

"Unfortunately no one can go in there just now, have you got a parent or guardian we could call?" He asked, his voice professional and his tone a narrative from the textbook of medical school.

"No, he's away on business." Dean said just as easily, falling into his routine.

"Right, well, is there any way we could get in contact with someone, another family member perhaps?"

"No, there's no one else. Let me see my brother!" Dean was getting aggressive now and he knew it could land him in trouble but his head was racing with terrible images of his brother and guilt coursed through him.

You had one job, Dean.

"I'm sorry, you can't go in. Your brother is heavily sedated and we're running some tests to see if he needs surgery,"

"Surgery?" Dean choked and the doctor nodded.

"Yes, it's unlikely but the tests are a necessary precaution, you understand. The smoke pollution damaged his lungs a little so he's on a ventilator for the time being and has a few minor burns and superficial wounds. Overall he's a little battered but if the next few tests come back clean then he should just need a while to recover. It's a waiting game at present."

Dean tried to force himself to breathe but was having trouble. His head hurt and it felt wrong to be talking about Sam like this.

"So when can I see him?" Dean croaked, calmer now but still scared.

"Soon, tomorrow most likely if he's conscious." Those words rang in Dean's head. _If he's conscious. If he wakes up. If he doesn't die._ Again, he attempted to calm down. There was nothing in the doctor's demeanour that had suggested Sam was on the brink or anything, he just needed time. Don't enlarge this, Dean. He's going to be alright.

"In the mean time, assuming you're staying," Dean nodded furiously.

"Well, the waiting room is just down the hall, there's a café on the second floor, if you need anything else, don't hesitate to ask." Dean nodded again in appreciation and the doctor gifted him with one more strictly professional smile before walking away to continue his work.

Sitting in that waiting room, Dean had never felt more alone. The hallways were barren and there wasn't even the excuse of irritating waiting room music, just an unnerving silence. Why was he the only one who had to suffer? He regretted the thought immediately as it entered his head. Sam was the one who'd suffered here, not him. And what did he want, other tragedies. No.

He felt more than lonely, he felt deserted. His Mother was dead. John was God knows where. He had no other family. Sam was in a hospital bed and he wasn't even allowed to see him. His friends weren't here. The only person who he knew would've been here for him he'd pushed away.

And all at once Dean was conflicted. He argued internally.

Cas would be here. He'd do something, he'd make it better.

He's an angel.

You know that's not an issue.

He's a killer?

You know that's not true.

_He lied to me._

There it is.

Hours passed as he paced up and down, over and over, it eventually grew dark and his legs were tired. He refused to eat or drink anything, it wasn't important. It must've been about midnight when he saw a figure pop it's head out of Sam's room and he was instantly at the door, faced with an uncomfortable looking Gabriel.

"Dean, I, uh-"

"Is he okay?" Dean interrupted. Gabriel paused for a second, confused at Dean's brush off to his being there at all but went with it gratefully.

"He's… Not really, I've tried to help him but I don't really know what I'm doing. He's a bit of a mess," He spoke quietly and Dean's heart clenched not only at the last words but Gabriel's tone and expression as he did. He looked as heartbroken as Dean felt.

"You can," Dean cleared his throat.

"You can, like, go invisible and stuff, right?"

"..Yeah…" Gabriel answered warily.

"Stay with him." Dean said in a small voice. Gabriel regarded Dean with fascination and a new found respect and nodded once before disappearing. Dean instantly felt better knowing Sam had someone who clearly cared about him with him. He only wished he had the same.

Okay, Winchester. Enough is enough. If Sam can do it so can you. Stow your crap and call him, you need to forget all of this; you don't want to be like your Dad. The blunt voice of reason in the back of his head came into focus and he knew he had to forgive Cas. Or try to.

He pulled out his phone and dialled Cas' number, after a painfully long ringing time his answer phone message played and the dial tone beeped in his ear, prompting him to leave a message, but suddenly Cas not picking up wasn't such a blessing because now he had nothing to go off.

"Uh, Cas, it's uh, it's me, Dean." He shook himself and bit on his lip, drawing in a shaky breath through the dimly lit hall.

"I, er, I need you, man. It's Sam, I mean, Gabe's with him but I, I can't-" His voice left him and he fought with himself, desperately trying not to punch a wall.

"Please, I get you have every reason to hate me but, uh, if there's any chance you could, shit, I don't know , I just… I'm s-" The message cut off and he cursed under his breath.

Abandoning his chair his pacing he sank into an uncomfortable waiting chair in the long hallway and allowed his head to droop, his eyes relenting at last and he fell asleep, his last thoughts of Sam alone in a fire and an apology to harsh blue eyes.

**A/N: I know this took a while to get out but I originally wrote this as one chapter but I changed my mind because I didn't want to rush it but this is all going towards the bigger plot line that's coming up. What did you think? What do you want to happen? What should definitely under no circumstances happen? What did you think of Zachariah? Where's Michael? Feedback is amazing and thank you to everyone who's reviewed and favourited and followed, you people are charming and wonderful. Hope you enjoyed. Thanks for reading! Belle.**


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